Stutsman County’s namesake

The Dakota Territory of the early 1860s was a big chunk of actual property with inhabitants facilities fairly widespread. The earliest settlement and one of many territory’s largest communities was Pembina, positioned within the northeastern nook of the territory. And whereas there could have been a couple of scattered settlers and merchants in between, the one different densely settled areas have been alongside the Missouri River on the very southern fringe of the territory.

The settlers in Pembina had petitioned for territory standing in 1858, three years earlier than the formation of the Dakota Territory. The petition, whereas signed by over 200 folks, was written in French and was not given severe consideration in Washington. When the Dakota Territory was fashioned in 1861, the seat of its new authorities was in Yankton, far faraway from the Northern Crimson River Valley that was included within the new territory.

Journey between these areas was troublesome. Enos Stutsman made the journey north from Yankton in 1866 to imagine the publish of customs agent. He traveled by Missouri River steamboat to Clinton, Iowa, north to St. Paul by Mississippi steamboat, west to Fort Abercrombie close to present-day Wahpeton by railroad and stagecoach, after which north to Pembina by canoe. It took Stutsman, who was handicapped by beginning defects that shriveled each legs to ineffective appendages, 23 days to succeed in his new publish alongside the Canadian border.

Stutsman would later function register of deeds for the early model of Pembina County. Pembina County at the moment lined most of what’s now japanese North Dakota. He additionally represented the Pembina space within the territorial legislature though journey difficulties made it troublesome for anybody to get to the seat of presidency in Yankton.

In 1873, the Dakota Territory’s legislature named one of many new counties it fashioned in honor of Stutsman, who died a yr later in 1874. He’s buried in Sioux Metropolis, Iowa.

It’s unlikely that Enos Stutsman ever set foot within the county that was named in his honor.

If you happen to do get to Pembina, North Dakota, you possibly can journey on Stutsman Road which the good frontier lawyer most likely did trod in his personal approach near 150 years in the past.

Creator Keith Norman might be reached at

www.KeithNormanBooks.com