The River and Dakota Territory

The Missouri River, nicknamed the "Muddy Mo," is the "great divider" in terms of population, commerce, politics, lifestyles, climate, topography, and agricultural uses. The phrases "east-river" and "west-river" are commonplace. 

The Dakota Territory was an enormous region of more than 325,000 square miles including all of present day North and South Dakota, a tiny section of Nebraska, plus a vast percentage of Montana and Wyoming east of the Continental Divide, with Yankton, South Dakota being the first territorial capital. 

Built in 1864, Fort Wadsworth was renamed Fort Sisseton in 1876. It was constructed in Santee Sioux Country at Kettle Lakes in what is now Marshall County, South Dakota. 

The old Dakota Territory Map was part of the Dakotarama touring exhibit during the Dakota Territory Centennial in 1961. It shows the Dakota territory's border changes by law when North and South Dakota became states of the Union. The light area of Montana and Wyoming were never a part of Dakota Territory and the light area at the bottom of South Dakota was transferred to Nebraska in 1882. 

The Dakota Discovery Museum is also fortunate to have an original casting of Charles Russell's last sculpture "Stagecoach; Ain't No Job for a Lady." Who has over more than 4,500 documented pieces of work and lived the rough and rugged cowboy life. 

As you round the corner, you will find a display about mining and the influence that finding gold in the Black Hills had on the middle border. Custers expedition to the hills in 1874 verified rumors of gold and the rush was on. In violation of Sioux treaties, miners swarmed into the region, and the boomtowns of Custer and Deadwood were established. Sioux revolted in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in southern Montana in June 1876. The Treaty of 1868, had set aside West River South Dakota, to the great Sioux Nation. The Treaty of 1877, also known as the "Sign or Starve Treaty", legalized miners and forced the tribe to give up the Black Hills area.

The next display is Hutterian Brethern and the influence the Hutterite colonies had on the landscape of the middle border country. The Hutterites had fled persecution in Europe and settled in Dakota Territory in 1870s. Devoted to communal living, non-violence, and shared labor. They created colonies, rooted in centuries old traditions. Most left for Canada during World War I, due to anti-pacifist sentiments. Many return to South Dakota by the 1930s. Today there are many colonies, especially in east river. They remain distinctive for their dress, dialect, and community values. The Hutterites represent a link between the old world beliefs, and the enduring possibilities of communal life on the prairie.

The middle border is also considered an Ethnic Stew. Ethnic groups came to the middle border from Germany, Bohemia (Czechs), Norway, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and many others.

Also, in this area, you will find a model of a chuckwagon. Charles Goodnight, a Texas cattleman, designed the first chuckwagon in 1866 when he mounted a box with shelves and drawers on the back of an old army escort wagon. Over the years variations of the concept were applied such as adding additional drawers, mounting a kettle box under the floorboard and attaching a coffee grinder to the side box. Chuckwagons were used on cattle drives from Texas and later for round ups in western Dakotas. On some round ups a two wheeled cart carrying a stove was pulled behind a chuckwagon. The stove allowed for fancier cooking. This model was carved by John Sogge, in Spearfish, South Dakota. It illustrates the functions and versatility of the chuckwagon on the open range.

Cattle trails were common in the area as the demands for beef increased after the Civil War. Thousands of Longhorn cattle roaming the Texas plains were rounded up and headed north. The need for beef at military forts, for Indian rations, and to supply miners in the gold fields provided major markets. In the early 1870s, the Texas trails were expanded to Denver, Pine Ridge, Deadwood, Miles City and Fort Buford. The lush grass of western middle border country attracted Texas cattle ranchers who moved vast herds north. Giant ranches were established in the Indian territories of Dakota, Montana and in Wyoming from 1876 to 1890. Some of the cattlemen married Indian women and took advantage of the availability of grazing rights for tribal members, granted by various tribes. Today, cattle graze primarily on big spreads in West River. Many cattle are fattened for market in the feedlots of the east river area.