Dakota Datebook: July 31

Apr 26, 2024

Jul 31, 2023

Pump Snakes

By DAVE SEIFERT

July 31– As one might suspect, on a wide open North Dakota prairie, when the work is done for the day, it’s time for stories. Sometimes, when the facts were a little skimpy, old timers of the area would improvise.

One of these more interesting “improvised stories” comes from Emmons County, in central North Dakota, in the spring of 1886. It tells of one of nature’s strangest creatures, the Pump Snake.

Fully grown, the pump snake measured 16 feet in length and about three inches in diameter. If dissected, one would find a two-inch diameter rubber-like tube, running the length of its body.

Unlike other snakes, the pump snakes ran in herds, and on one occasion a herd of 300 was observed slithering across the North Dakota prairie. Also unlike other reptiles of their family, Pump Snakes can be easily trained to answer the call of man.

Upon hearing a whistle from their trainer, the Pump Snakes would slither off to the nearby creek, always following their leader. All Pump Snake herds had a leader.

Upon reaching the creek, the lead Pump Snake slithers into the water, leaving only a portion of its tail on the bank. Another pump snake then takes hold of the lead snake’s tail in its jaws. Then a third snake takes hold the second snake’s tail. Before long, there is one continuous snake, measuring over 300 feet long.

The lead pump snake starts to rapidly swallow water, passing the water through each of the snakes behind him, like water passing through a hose. The result is a steady stream of water coming out of the last snake’s tail!

As the story goes, one day while tending to yard work, the farmer was shocked to see that his shed had caught fire. Wild with excitement, yet helpless to stop the flames, the farmer watched as the flames grew higher.

Suddenly, the herd of Pump Snakes slithered into action. Within minutes they had formed a continuous line from the creek to the shed. The last snake, standing on its head, waved the long flexible tail end of his body, and began squirting water on the flames. Within about 20 minutes the fire was extinguished. Needless to say, the snakes were exhausted.

No one from Cat Tail Creek knows when the last Pump Snake died out, but the story that’s a little “skimpy of facts” lives on.

Seth Bullock’s Arrival

By JAYME L. JOB

August 1– Seth Bullock arrived in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, on this day in 1876. Bullock’s history as a Deadwood sheriff and U.S. marshal have been made popular by the HBO television series Deadwood, but his lasting legacy on Dakota Territory is much more legendary than even his character in the television show can portray. Bullock’s character was larger than life, and his legend is as real as the city he helped to create.

Bullock was born on July 23, 1847, in Amherstburg, Ontario. His father, British Major George Bullock, was actively involved in politics, and this influenced Bullock’s later career. At the age of 16, Bullock ran away from home and went to his older sister’s home in Montana.

Although caught and forced to return home, he returned to the territory of Montana as soon as he turned 18. He went into politics and was elected to the Territorial Senate of Montana in 1867. He introduced the resolution to create Yellowstone as a national park, and was only 22 when the park was established. Bullock also worked as an auctioneer and began a hardware business with his partner, Sol Star. He began his legendary career in law enforcement as a deputy sheriff, but was elected as the sheriff of Lewis and Clark County by the age of 26.

In 1876, Bullock and Star heard about the business boom in Deadwood and decided to move their hardware business east. The day after Bullock arrived in Deadwood though, Wild Bill Hickok was killed and the mining camp decided they needed a sheriff to enforce the law.

The miners quickly appointed Bullock, who served until his appointment as a U.S. Marshal of western Dakota Territory in 1884. Although many people have heard of Seth Bullock’s career as a sheriff and marshal, few know that Bullock was close friends with Theodore Roosevelt, another legendary Dakota figure. Roosevelt met Bullock while serving as Medora’s deputy sheriff. The president “appointed Bullock the first forest supervisor for the Black Hills” in the 1890s. One of Teddy’s Rough Riders, Bullock also served Roosevelt as a captain in the Cowboy Regiment during the Spanish American War.

In 1905, Roosevelt appointed Bullock as U.S. Marshal of South Dakota. Bullock served in this capacity for nine years, reappointed by Presidents Taft and Wilson. Bullock and his partner Star are also credited with founding the town of Belle Fourche, South Dakota.

In September 1919, Seth Bullock died of cancer in Room 211 of the Bullock Hotel in Deadwood, the city’s first hotel, erected by Bullock himself. His grave is located in the Mount Moriah Cemetery, next to Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.

Walhalla

By CATHY A. LANGEMO

August 2 — Walhalla, in Pembina County of northeastern North Dakota, was incorporated in August 1918. However, the town, which was first called St. Joseph, had a very colorful and historical background for many years before that.

The area was first inhabited by the Native Americans, like the Sioux, Chippewa, Cree and Assiniboin. The mixing of early French traders and the Indians created a new community called the “Mixed Bloods” or Metis.

One of the most famous of the Metis was Charles Bottineau, who was the first real farmer in what is now North Dakota and who exported the first wheat from the U.S. to Canada by oxcart.

The area was first claimed by England, when Charles II granted the Hudson’s Bay Company a charter in 1670. La Verendrye and his sons came through in 1738. Alexander Henry Jr. wrote in his journal in 1801 about the Northwest Trading posts in the “Hair Hills” of Walhalla.

Early explorers were quick to recognize the charm and beauty of the place, calling it the “Valley of the Gods” or the “Home of the Gods.” The area had already been under the flags of four countries: England, Spain, France and the U.S. when the Louisiana Territory was purchased from Napoleon in 1803.

Set in the beautiful Pembina Hills of northeastern North Dakota, Walhalla was first settled in 1843 by Norman W. Kittson of the American Fur Company. He built a trading post there. Antoine Gingras came along about that time, also, and built a trading post for the Northwest Fur Company.

In 1845, Father G.A. Belcourt built a log church and school. First called St. Joseph, the parish was moved to Leroy in 1873.

Alonzo Barnard and D.B. Spencer brought the first printing press to Walhalla in 1853, and Fr. Belcourt started the first flour mill in 1856, using the dam on the Pembina River to operate the mill.

The coming of the railroad in 1897 brought a chief means of transporting goods into Walhalla and hauling grain, cream and other produce to market. The railroad also opened up the area to settlers taking advantage of the Homestead Act.

By 1900, Walhalla had two hotels, a blacksmith shop, two hardware stores, a post office, two drug stores and a watch repair shop. There were also general stores, banks and a lumber yard. The town sported a hall for dances and a newspaper, The Mountaineer, founded in 1896 by Charles H. Lee.

Farming in the Walhalla area is diversified, with the main crop being spring wheat and other crops including sugar beets, sunflowers, corn and potatoes. Hogs, chickens and beef cattle are raised.

In what is called “Moose Capital of North Dakota,” hunters seldom miss bagging their moose each year. Today, the Pembina Hills make Walhalla a year-around tourist attraction, with historical sites, skiing, hunting, hiking, horseback riding, canoeing and other recreational opportunities.

Fort Abercrombie

By JIM DAVIS

August 3 — One hundred years after Fort Abercrombie was established by order of Congress in 1857, petitions were being gathered for Congress to again act on this important military site.

Residents of Abercrombie and others interested in the preservation of this early frontier post were collecting signatures to have it named as a national park. The plan was to rebuild the original structures, purchase additional land, establish a museum and restrooms and allow for a caretaker for the summer.

The supporters estimated that an annual appropriation of $5,000 to $6,000 a year would be needed and letters were sent to Assistant Secretary of the Interior Fred Aandahl, a former North Dakota governor. Although national park status was never obtained, Fort Abercrombie continues to be one of North Dakota’s significant historic sites.

The Old

Town Pump

By JIM DAVIS

August 4 — Today the tentacles of the rural water pipelines are reaching out to more remote areas to ensure a supply of drinking and domestic water. For most urban dwellers, drinking water from the tap is taken for granted but that was not always the case.

For many towns and cities there was a domestic supply of water to the home but the drinking water had to be hauled from another source. These artesian, underground pools did not contain potable water in large enough quantities to provide a larger community with its full water needs, so less desirable water was provided for domestic use and the drinking water was purchased from a supplier, if income permitted, or it had to be obtained from the town pump.

Shortly after 1900, the City of Devils Lake established a pump alongside the county jail, and residents obtained their drinking water from this source. Most often this chore belonged to the oldest son. With his little red wagon full of galvanized cans with lids, the trek began to the little six by six-foot clapboard shed with its two- foot square window and a hanging dim light bulb, where the ordeal with the old-fashioned pump handle began.

Older people would often have to rest a few times before they could manage to fill their cans and the younger patrons would find their feet in the air as they struggled to bring the handle down. If the young man was lucky, his return trip with the loaded cans was downhill so he could hop on the wagon and ride the rest of the way. Care had to be taken against hitting bumps and curbs which could mean another trip back to the pump, in soggy clothes, to start all over again. In the winter, sleds were used to haul the cans of water.

Thousands of gallons of water were laboriously pumped from the well in this manner but on this date in 1954, the old pump gave way to progress. An electric motor was placed which enabled patrons to push a button and a flow of water would commence, making the job much easier. For over a half a century, the squeaking of the pump handle could be heard from the little shed in the courtyard of the jail and many an older resident can recall the weekly pilgrimage to the Old Town Pump.

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