First Bridge

Ransom County Notes: The picture Cindy Olson recently posted on the "You are from Ransom County..." site shows something of historical interest. The second meeting of the newly formed county commission in Ransom County, April 16, 1881, dealt with authorizing the building of the first bridge over the Sheyenne River at the north end of main street in Lisbon. The bridge seen here could well have been that bridge.

Early Impressions

Ransom County Notes:  In his diary, Oscar Garrett Wall, a cavalryman with Co. F, 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers wrote his impressions of the Sibley Expedition’s stay in Ransom County on July 4, 1863.  “This was indeed a strange Fourth of July.  No man in the command had ever before seen one like it.  No mark of civilization had ever been raised in this country.  No surveys had been made.  No white men had disturbed the solitude into which we had entered.  Herds of buffalo were visible in almost any direction.  Aside from these nothing was seen but arched skies and boundless plains.”

Ransom County Notes:  The accompanying map has been highlighted to show two trails leading from the Pigeon Point station to Fort Ransom. The northernmost was known as the low-water trail and became the preferred route for travelers and freighters in dry periods when the Sheyenne River ran low and could be easily forded.  The southernmost or high-water trail added miles and time to the trip, an important consideration with slow moving oxen pulling most of the freight.  The Stevenson wagon train returning empty from Fort Ransom chose the high-water route and found themselves stalled in a three-day blizzard near Okiedan Butte.  It is not known why they didn’t use the low-water trail when they could have forded the river on frozen ice.  The reason is lost on the wind.

Bringing the WORD

Ransom County Notes:  A Catholic priest, Father Stephan, conducted the first services in the county.  In 1878-79, and dedicated to bringing the WORD to settlers, he walked out from Moorhead to perform his priestly duties in settlers’ cabins in which attendees crowded, coming from as far away as twenty miles. 

Gold and Geology

The recent post in my “Ransom County Notes” gathered some interest in the gold mine story near Lisbon.  Here is what a North Dakota geologist John Bluemle in his book NORTH DAKOTA’S GEOLOGIC LEGACY says, “When I mapped the geology of Ransom County in 1970, I visited the mine site…I spent some time studying the apparent mine site and determined that any gold was contained in what is probably a cemented placer deposit, consisting of gravel that was deposited by a preglacial stream or river.  The river probably had its origin in the Black Hills, the likely source area for the gold, and it must have flowed through the area sometime prior to 3 million years ago.”  I will see Dr. Bluemle Thursday night at an event at NDSU and will discuss it further.

A Market for Bones

Those countless numbers of buffalo that passed through our area came to their end either through killing by hide skinners, sporting slaughter where they were shot from moving trains, or just plain old natural attrition.  Their carcasses left to lay on the prairie, their skeletons soon bleached in the hot sun after scavenging birds and animals had picked them clean.

When settlers appeared, they had no opportunity to earn much income from their homesteads the first year and could earn a few dollars by collecting bones and selling them for around $8 per ton.  In the WPA files found in the state historical society, we know a market for bones existed in Ransom County.  Mrs. Alice Beard reported that “about 1888, bone collectors gathered many loads of buffalo bones which were sold in Sheldon and shipped east.  There were so many buffalo wallows, and the ground was covered by bones near these.”

A Multitude of Buffalo

Ransom County Notes:  Before settlement occurred, countless numbers of migrating wildlife passed through the land now comprising the county.  A remarkable example occurring in the early 1860s tells of a military troop commanded by a Colonel Creel who found themselves trapped atop a hill five miles south of present-day Lisbon.  An immense herd of buffalo headed toward the hill, split to pass by on either side of them, and kept the men surrounded for several hours.  The colonel looked in the distance with his spotting glass and saw the horizon filled with animals.