The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, June 20, 1936, Page 16

16 THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1986 Bismarck Gamblers Gave Minister $200 As Christmas Gift The Army Has Its Dinner Col. C. A. Lounsberry, found- er and first editor of The Bismarck Tribune, which was the first weekly and first daily paper in what is now North Dakota. Weather Bureau on Historic Ground Here When North Dakotans cuss the ‘weather man, they are cussing the di- rector of the U. S. Weather bureau in Bismarck, for the Capital City has the official headquarters station for all observers in the state. Located on the Northern Pacific right-of-way fronting Main avenue at} the foot of First street, the weather} bureau has incorporated in its present building part of one of the oldest buildings in the city—log structures that occupied Camp Greely, later named Hancock, in the early "70s. Moved 11 times during its existence, the bureau today is the center of a network of observers who keep a sharp eye on the weather winter and sum- mer. From here daily forecasts issue} and revealing statistics are compiled.) Observations are taken three times every 24 hours—at 3:30 a. m., 10 a. m.! and 3:30 p. m. Official observer is O. W. Roberts. In 1872 the Northern Pacific spent; $80,000 planting cottonwood trees along the right-of-way between Fargo and Jamestown to serve as a wind- break and to provide wood for ties. The cuttings were obtained from the} Red river valley, and were planted| having a strip of prairie sod} simply by turned over them. Not one lived. Company A, organized Sept. 14, 1883, is one of Bismarck’s oldest or- ganizations. FOR BETTER PICTURES USE WELL DOTHE REST Good prints are a habit with us FILMS Developed and Printed 2 5 Cc including 2 Enlargements when you buy your films and have them developed at Campbell’s Corner 3rd and Main . (Mail orders promptly filled) Indian Attacks on Fort Recalled by Mrs. C. L. Pearce City Resident Since °73 Remembers Slaying of Lieutenant’s Killer; Meeting With Rain-in-the-Face Untimely In one of a train of 50 creaking, ox-drawn covered wagons that followed the Northern Pacific railroad tracks to take ad- vantage of the protection afforded by soldier garrisons along the way, 10-year-old Winnifred Nicholls, now Mrs. Charles L. Pearce, 322 t St., came to Bismarck Aug, 3, 1873. Behind her lay memories of hiding with her mother, brother, and three sisters in a corn-field near their farm home in Goodhue county, Minnesota, during the Indian uprising of the early ’60s, when the burning town of New Ulm made the night sky red. Stronger in the memories of her father, John F. Nicholls, and the other older members of the caravan were the years of chinch bugs, grasshoppers, drouth and crop failures that caused them to emigrate to a new promised land, farther west over the prairie. mH LON The Nicholls’ first dwelling in Bis- marck was a tent, just south of the {present Presbyterian church. Their first North Dakota winter they spent, however, in a house on Fourth 8t., opposite the Oscar H. Will seed store. The following summer they erected their own home, a log building, on the corner of First and Thayer. Mrs. Pearce's recollections of early days in Bismarck are vivid. Indians Were Peepers “You know,” she said, “the Indians used to walk around town, peeking into people's windows. Sometimes | they'd come in and ask for food. “One day my mother was baking in the kitchen when Rain-in-the-Face and six of his braves with their squaws walked in the house. They asked for food, and mother gave them some bread. They began to eat it, but Rain-in-the-Face saw some biscuits mother was making, and suddenly went around and grabbed the bread the braves and squaws were eating | and tossed it out the door. “Then he pointed to the biscuits, meaning they wanted those instead. Mother got mad. She said ‘No, sir!’ and went and opened the door and told them to get out. They got, too, without their biscuits, and with Rain- in-the-Face shaking his fist at her. But they never came back.” One of Mrs. Pearce'’s sisters, Mary, died of appendicitis two years after they came to Bismarck, and was bur- ied where the Presbyterian church now stands. Another sister, who later became Mrs. Charles W. Blunt of Bis- marci, died eight years ago. A third ~ | sister, Mrs. Jeanette Garver, is now ‘living in Bozeman, Mont. Mrs. Pearce's only brother died during the Spanish-American war. Recalls '73 Christmas Christmas in 1873—Mrs. Pearce’s first in Bismarck—was celebrated at {the Presbyterian church—a cotton- wood log, canvas-topped structure that stood on the site of the present one. “It was a sort of community Christ- mas celebration,” she recalled. “I know the presents we ordered barely came on the last train before Christ- mas. | “We didn’t have a regular ever- green tree, so we used a native buf- |falo tree, the kind the berries grow {on, The ladies trimmed the tree. | They stuck candles on the thorns, and strung cranberries and popcorn that had come up with the government freight. Everybody had candy and presents, and we all sang Christmas Songs. Father Sloan—he was the |first Presbyterian minister here— | played @ little hand-organ, and sang | some solos, too. | Favorite With Everybody | “You know, he was a favorite with jeverybody. Hung on the tree that |day was a buckskin bag for him, a | Present from the town’s gamblers, He jopened it, and Mhside was $200.” | Indians would occasionally attack TEMPE My “bargain.” Be sure you get QUALITY, fool All these U. S. Tires are TEMPERED RUBBER Tires . . . the toughest, safest tires we have ‘exer sold. This means you'll got 7% to 36%. more safe miles, at no extra cost. Distributed by GRANT-DADEY C0. Wholesale.Auto Supplies Bismarck HERE'S A SAFE WAY TO SAVE! LOW PRICED TIRES .... YET WITH THE TOUGHER, LONGER WEARING, TEMPERED RUBBER TREAD. © Low price alone doesn’t make @ _ Phone 277 Fort McKeen, on the hill south of Mandan, and when they did, most of Bismarck turned out to watch it. “Evening was their favorite time to attack,” Mrs. Pearce said. “We had one of those big old-fashioned tele- scopes, and used to watch the fight-| ing through that. We could see puffs | of smoke from the rifles against the western sky.” Bismarck was a hard-boiled fron- tier town then, and Fourth St. was the wildest of them all, Mrs. Pearce recalled. Lieutenant Slain “Once a man by the name of ‘Spotty’ Whalen got into a fight with an army lieutenant down at the ‘Point’ (that was down across the tiver from Fort Abraham Lincoln) over @ woman. Whalen shot and killed him and ran into Bismarck to hide. Dave Mullen, who ran a dance hall where Lucas’s is now, offered to protect him. “Word of the shooting got to Fort Lincoln, and Custer and some of his men came to Bismarck to get Whalen. They went into every place in town except Mullen’s, which was barred. “Custer yelled to Mullen that they were coming in to get Whalen. “‘Over my dead body you will,’ called Mullen, and Custer’s men opened fire. They poured a stream of lead into the building, and broke down the door. Find Mullen Dead “There on the floor lay Mullen, true to his word—dead. Another army lieutenant had been killed in the shooting, too. “But Whalen got away. Several days later he was found hiding in a barn where the Montgomery Ward store now stands, and was turned over to the government for punishment.” Winnifred Nicholls married Charles L. Pearce, Jan. 29, 1887. Mr. Pearce, who had come to Bismarck in 1880, was @ Black Hills freighter for sev- eral years. Later he was a stone- layer. The handsome wall surround- ing the weather bureau today was constructed by Mr. Pearce. Five children of that marriage are living today. Two daughters and a live in Bismarck. They are Hazel Pearce Halverson and Gladys Pearce, of 322 First St., and George Leonard Pearce. The other daughters are Lois Pearce Noval of Tulsa, Okla., and Esma Pearce Graner of Dil- worth, Minn. There are also two grandchildren, Winnie Lou Halver- son of Bismarck, and Joseph Pearce | Graner of Dilworth. Mother Was Active Mrs. Pearce’s hardy, pioneer, In- Winston, when she was two. states when they were the Union — Wisconsin, and North Dakota. Later she moved to Minnesota, where her daughter, Nicholls, was born, July “Bismarck used to be tough, all Mrs. Pearce recalled, smil- right,” ing. “People shot others down like cat- tle. leave anything you owned out in your yard a year, and nobody would touch it. It’s different state, had an active life. was born in Merthyl, Tudfil, Wales, England, and was taken to New York Her family sete. tled in Utica, but Winnifred received her education at Cortland. came to Wisconsin, met and mar- ried John F. Nicholls, and settled in what was then the village of Racine. She had the unusual distinction of being a resident of three different She Dance uprising and ah un Bull’s death in 1890. admitted to Minnesota, Winnifred 26, 1863, now..” tial to human life. | practically unknown. All was not bullets and bat- tles for the Indian fighters mopping up after the Ghost Sitting Here at mess in the field sit Gen. Nelson A. Miles and officers of his staff. General Miles sits at the head of the table. Catfish Was Staple Food on First Table) Catfish from the rivers and buffalo} from the plains were staple articles | of diet for Dakota's first residents. Audubon, the famous naturalist, | after his study of fishes in the Mis- But in those days you could|souri in 1858, declared the catfish was a valuable article of food as the| meat contained constituents essen-) —_———_ For scores of years the early trad-| Bismarck had the first American) ers subsisted almost exclusively on) Legion Auxiliary unit organized in the| buffalo and catfish. Vegetables were | INDIANS FEARED THESE GUNS The Sioux gave Fort McKeen a wide berth after the Gatling gun pictured here had opened up on them a few times. dian-defying mother, Winnifred | The FOUNDING OF DAKOTA TERRITORY. 1861 BATTLE OF THE LITTLI BIG HORN, 1876 COMMEMORATING name had been changed to Fort Abraham Lincoln. distance are other gun carriages, blockhouses and barracks. Grand Pacific Hotel JOIN IN Pioneer Days Festival Bismarck, North Dakota July 3-4-5, 1936 and the Bismarck Hotel of Bismarck and the Missouri Slope Country Invite You to Be Their Guests During PIONEER DAYS FESTIVAL July 3-4-5 in Bismarck The Grand Pacific and Bismarck Hotels are proud to play a part in the PIONEER DAYS FESTIVAL. These two hotels can righteously join in this great celebra- tion. They were established in the true Pioneer Days of Bismarck, 1880 to be exact, and they have been giving friendly, courteous service these many years. The great Northwest has learned to like these hotels because they are clean, comfortable, homelike and reasonable in price. Make them your home while in Bismarck. FRED PETERSON, JOHN PETERSON, Props. You'll also enjoy the excellent food and service of The Grand Pacific Restaurant THE CAPITAL CITY’S BRIGHT SPOT SERVICE: TABLES, BOOTHS, FOUNTAIN BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA OPEN DAY AND NIGHT. The Pioneer Hotels This picture was taken at Fort McKeen after its In the Fort Lincoln of Today Dates From 1899 Only The Fort Lincoln of today, three miles south of Bismarck, often is con- fused with Fort Abraham Lincoln, the post where Custer was stationed four miles south of Mandan. Fort Abraham Lincoln ceased to ex- ist July 22, 1891, and the military reservation was turned over to the de- partment of the interior. Fort Lin- coln (with the “Abraham” dropped) was created by act of Congress in 1899 and first occupied Aug. 19, 1902. The garrison at Fort Lincoln was transferred to Fort George Wright, ‘Washington, Jan. 4, 1913, and the red brick buildings stood unoccupied un- til 1916 when the national guard used them once again as a training center for members of the punitive expedi- tion to Mexico, history more than 100 years old and many famous battles in its records. Christian Science was studied and marck in 1886. The present church building was not constructed until 1915, and the church was given its Tegular national charter in 1924, 4 | % Lewis and Clark Expedition, has for 20 years guided its affairs to a position of ever-increasing | % security. Today Provident policyholders enjoy the protection of $133.20 assets for every $100 of policy liability. Af this ‘ped of safety hes selling interest for you, get in touch with us! N. D Historical Society Photo Charlie Reynolds, chief of scouts for Custer, perished in an effort to pierce the Little Big Horn Indian ring of “Of courage undaunted”—so spoke President Jefferson in eulogizing Meriwether Lewis, the in- trepid explorer who with William Clark opened the way to the Pacific Coast... 1804, COURAGE must dominate the ship which sets sail on a sea of competition. Provident X Life, with its symbol of the brave Sakaka-Wea, the Indian “Bird Woman” who safely guided the an death. « Today as in in Town est USED CAR Buys Safely “Tested USED CARS Bargain Chiced / SEE CLASSIFIED i \ SECTION IN SAFETY-TES | TED USED CARS 100 West Broadway | Blamarek, N, D. For Veterans Our Prices Are Lowered Not Raised Down Payment as Low as $25.00 A few examples of our good buys follow: FOR ADDITIONAL FRER‘ED OLDSMOBILE DEA -FLECK MOTOR SALES, Inc.‘ BARGAINS BY YOUR ER Phone 55