Yellowstone, of which the steamer Key West, commanded by Captain Grant Marsh, was a feature, on that occasion reaching the Little Big Horn, becoming the first steamer to invade the waters of the Yellowstone above Brasseaus post, touched by General Sully in 1864. George Grinnell, a trusted scout and noted frontiersman, also accompanied General Forsythe, the reconnaissance being preliminary to the Custer expedition of 1876, which resulted in the death of Custer and his men. He was with General Nelson A. Miles on his campaign against Chief Joseph, who surrendered to him in 1877, after one of the most brilliant fights ever made by warring chieftain. On their arrival at Bismarck the victor and his staff and the vanquished and his chiefs were tendered a banquet at the Sheridan House, and as they were leaving the banquet hall the village school mistress planted a kiss on the cheek of Joseph in token of her admiration for his brilliant exploits and devotion to what he conceived to be the interests of his people. The author was one of the originators of this unique entertainment in which Kelly participated. Joseph was not a ruthless warrior. Mr. Kelly later entered the Indian service and retiring settled on his California ranch. THE SCOUT THAT CUSTER LOVED Charles Reynolds was the favorite scout of General George A. Custer. He came to the Missouri River in 1868, and in 1869 furnished Fort Rice with wild meat and in 1870, in connection with Joseph Dietrich, one of the earliest business men of Bismack, performed a similar service for Fort Stevenson and later for Fort Abraham Lincoln. One day in June, 1873, seven elk fell from his unerring rifle on Apple Creek, about five miles from Bismarck. He was on the Stanley Expedition of 1872, the Yellowstone reconnaissance of 1873, and the Custer Black Hills expedition of 1874. He carried to Fort Laramie in August, 1874, the official dispatches from General Custer, and a telegram to the Bismarck Tribune, which enabled this writer to give to the Associated Press that famous "Gold in the Grass Roots" telegram which first announced the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. He was with Major Marcus A. Reno when his command sought safety on the Little Big Horn bluffs. Reynolds' horse was shot, and, falling on him, he was killed by the Indians, first emptying his revolver, every shot costing an Indian life. Charles Reynolds was born in Warren County, Illinois, in 1854, and became an expert hunter and fearless Indian fighter at 16, taking part in the troubles on the Fort Phil Kearney trail, afterward in New Mexico and Kansas. He entered the military service in the 16th Kansas, in which he served during the Civil War. His remains are buried near the Michigan University at Ann Arbor as the result of the loving respect gained by him from a professor of that institution who knew him on the Black Hills expedition of 1874. JAMES A. EMMONS, James A. Emmons established one of the first business houses of Bismarck, being post trader at Camp Hancock and in charge of a stock of goods owned by John H. Charles of Sioux City. He established the steam ferry at Bismarck, built one of the first brick blocks, was the first and best patron of the Bismarck Tribune and later engaged in the publishing business on his own account. Mrs. Emmons, nee Nina B. Burnham, of Yankton, came to Bismarck a bride on the first steamboat to reach the place after the Northern Pacific crossing of the Missouri was located and became the mother of the first child born at the Capital City, and one of the founders of the North Dakota Historical Society, and a worker in all good causes. The Master may have had need of her, for he called her from their home at Pawnee, Oklahoma, in 1917. Mr. Emmons was also a human helper, in whose heart there was no guile. He was born at Guyandotte, Virginia, December 29, 1843. He moved to Missouri in 1853 and to Nebraska in 1854, soon thereafter becoming a cabin boy on the Mississippi and its tributaries. During the Civil War he was engaged in the U. S. Transportation Service. In 1865 he took a steamboat to the head of navigation on the Missouri, and, becoming attached to the country, carried out his purpose to settle at the Missouri River crossing when that point was settled in May, 1872, and at first called Edwinton, later Bismarck. D. W. M'CALL, MINER In 1873, D. W. McCall, an old California miner, "grub staked" by J. S. and E. T. Winston, opened a lignite coal mine near the mouth of Knife River, mining some two hundred tons, for which there proved to be no market. In 1874 McCall was appointed as special mineralogist on Custer's Black Hills expedition, and it was his spade which brought to the surface the gold in the grass roots, on which the Associated Press telegram was based announcing the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. He returned to the Black Hills in January, 1875, with R. R. Marsh, Joseph Deitrich, W. H. Stimpson and others and returned with fine specimens of gold used by Major John A. McLean and Colonel Lounsberry in work before Congress to secure the opening of the Black Hills. Returning to the Hills he was killed by Indians when on a prospecting tour in the spring of 1876. CHAPTER XXXIII PIONEER SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH DAKOTA GRAND FORKS COUNTY Aside from the trading posts of Henry and others, Grand Forks had its earliest beginning, so far as the records are concerned, with the organization of Pembina County, of which it was then a part, in 1867, though for five years it had been nominally a part of Chippewa County, which was never organized, but the real beginning of its history was in 1871, when John Fadden was granted a ferry charter across the Red River at that point at $21 per annum for a period of five years. July 3, 1871, Grand Forks was established as a polling place, the precinct commencing at the mouth of Turtle River, thence up that stream fifteen miles and then due south to the Goose River, thence down that stream to its mouth and up the Red River to the place of beginning. September 4, the place of beginning was changed to the mouth of Park River and west to the Pembina mountains. Thomas Walsh, John Fadden and S. C. Code were appointed judges of election, and the first election was held at the house of John Stuart, at the site of the present City of Grand Forks. In 1873 Grand Forks County was established by act of the Legislature, and George B. Winship, John W. Stuart and Ole Thompson were appointed by the Legislature to organize the county. Its boundaries as then organized were later changed, a part going to Walsh County and a part to Nelson. In 1873 Frank Veits, who had been in business two years at Georgetown, took charge of the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company at Grand Forks, including their Northwestern Hotel, and in 1875 purchased their interests in store, hotel and town property. In 1877 he built a 50-barrel-a-day flouring mill, an improvement of greater importance to North Dakota than any other at that time, settlers coming from points as far as one hundred miles with grist to be ground at this mill. He built the Veits House, later known as the Richardson, and later he and associates built the Dakota House. Among the first settlers at Grand Forks, in 1871, were Capt. Alexander Griggs, Michael L. McCormack and Thomas Walsh, the latter bringing a sawmill. Nick Huffman kept the stage station, John Fadden the ferry, W. Clark and D. F. Reeves, George B. Winship, William Budge. These, with the Hudson's Bay Company store and hotel were about all of Grand Forks in 1871. Reeves built several boats that summer at Grand Forks. The engine from the Walsh sawmill was finally sent to Winnipeg and used on the Saskatchewan. Burbank, Blakely & Carpenter put on a line of stages from Fort Abercrombie to Pembina in 1871. The Hudson's Bay Company had maintained a post at George town for many years prior to 1873, when they moved to Grand Forks. They had stations also at Frog Point (now Belmont), Traill County and Goose River (now Caledonia), and at Red Lake. Their post at Red Lake was established in 1797 and in 1801 a post was established and for several years maintained at Grand Forks. LARIMORE, GRAND FORKS COUNTY Larimore takes its name from N. G. Larimore, principal owner and general manager of the Elk Valley Farm, which immediately adjoins the city. The farm consists of 15,000 acres, of which 10,000 are under cultivation. In the plowing season plows start on this farm at breakfast and without stump, stone, or other obstruction, make a furrow six miles in length and in returning make another of the same length before dinner. In the afternoon they repeat, men, teams and plows traveling twenty-four miles daily. The teams in plowing, seeding and harvesting go in gangs. The forty-three harvesters, cutting 600 acres daily, form an impressive scene. The selections of land for this farm were made soon after the surveys in 1878, and the opening of the land to settlement in 1879. Then Larimore was conceived and in 1881 the site was laid out. The railroad reached Larimore December 25, 1881. The city was laid out on the lands of the Elk Valley Farming Company, and Senator W. N. Roach became the agent for the sale of lots. Senator Roach landed at Larimore in August, 1879, and opened the stage line from Grand Forks to Devils Lake, carrying the first mail, being the con tractor. The railroad was completed to Larimore Christmas Day, 1881, from Grand Forks, and from Casselton to Larimore in 1883. In 1884 it was extended to Park River. Beginning with 1882, Larimore entered upon a boom period lasting about three years. In 1882 it was the principal trading point for a vast extent of country and it prospered beyond comprehension, almost. The lands were productive; prices for products were high and the farming lands were being developed, creating a demand for supplies of every class, and its population soon exceeded one thousand. The wheat receipts from the crop of 1882 were 300,000 bushels. The railroad grading commenced west of Larimore in September, 1882, and reached Devils Lake that fall, and the track laid to Bartlett and to Devils Lake the next summer. The country about Larimore developed rapidly and many other farms developed, ranging from 320 to 2,500 acres. Here land could only be obtained by means of purchase from actual settlers or by the use of the various forms of land scrip, limiting the size of farms in comparison with Cass. and Traill counties, where the odd sections were acquired by the use of discredited railroad bonds. Visited by the World's Fair Foreign Commissioners in 1893, this farm attracted world-wide attention and immediately gained a reputation quite equal to the Dalrymple Farm and the Grandin farms of even greater acreage. Col. O. M. Towner located the land for this farm and it was through his agency the title was acquired for the Missouri corporation which owned it. CHAPTER XXXIII PIONEER SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH DAKOTA GRAND FORKS COUNTY Aside from the trading posts of Henry and others, Grand Forks had its earliest beginning, so far as the records are concerned, with the organization of Pembina County, of which it was then a part, in 1867, though for five years it had been nominally a part of Chippewa County, which was never organized, but the real beginning of its history was in 1871, when John Fadden was granted a ferry charter across the Red River at that point at $21 per annum for a period of five years. July 3, 1871, Grand Forks was established as a polling place, the precinct commencing at the mouth of Turtle River, thence up that stream fifteen miles and then due south to the Goose River, thence down that stream to its mouth and up the Red River to the place of beginning. September 4, the place of beginning was changed to the mouth of Park River and west to the Pembina mountains. Thomas Walsh, John Fadden and S. C. Code were appointed judges of election, and the first election was held at the house of John Stuart, at the site of the present City of Grand Forks. In 1873 Grand Forks County was established by act of the Legislature, and George B. Winship, John W. Stuart and Ole Thompson were appointed by the Legislature to organize the county. Its boundaries as then organized were later changed, a part going to Walsh County and a part to Nelson. In 1873 Frank Veits, who had been in business two years at Georgetown, took charge of the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company at Grand Forks, including their Northwestern Hotel, and in 1875 purchased their interests in store, hotel and town property. In 1877 he built a 50-barrel-a-day flouring mill, an improvement of greater importance to North Dakota than any other at that time, settlers coming from points as far as one hundred miles with grist to be ground at this mill. He built the Veits House, later known as the Richardson, and later he and associates built the Dakota House. saw Among the first settlers at Grand Forks, in 1871, were Capt. Alexander Griggs, Michael L. McCormack and Thomas Walsh, the latter bringing a mill. Nick Huffman kept the stage station, John Fadden the ferry, W. Clark and D. F. Reeves, George B. Winship, William Budge. These, with the Hudson's Bay Company store and hotel were about all of Grand Forks in 1871. Reeves built several boats that summer at Grand Forks. The engine from the Walsh sawmill was finally sent to Winnipeg and used on the Saskatchewan. Burbank, Blakely & Carpenter put on a line of stages from Fort Abercrombie to Pembina in 1871. The Hudson's Bay Company had maintained a post at George |