Because of the danger from sandbars and snags, the captain and crew of the “Evening Star,” amid many doubts and uncertainties, held to their course, passing Bon Home, Santee Sioux Agency, Ponca Agency, and Yankton Sioux Agency, and finally arriving at Fort Randall.  They landed some freight and were visited by those living at the fort.

It was here that Captain Poole met Captain A. E. Woodson, who had preceded him at the Whetstone Agency, and who was acting Commissary for the issuing of supplies there.  He gave Poole his first insight into the condition of affairs among the Indians.  They were in great need of suitable shelter for the supplies already on hand and those scheduled to arrive later.

Poole was informed of the number of Indians at the agency and their many needs.  They were anxious to see their new agent, who they supposed was coming with all manner of good things to make their “hearts glad.”

He also exhibited a couple of lead bullets, picked up in his sleeping room.  They had been fired through the door from a rifle in the hand of some impatient Indian, who was showing his disgust at the management of affairs in general, and the manager in particular.

To Captain Poole, this was not an over-bright picture of a quiet and peaceful life, while attempting to teach the Indians the assistance of the United States Government.

The “Evening Star” left Fort Randall, and the next day, toward evening, the low, crude (some referred to the buildings as uncouth and vulgar) buildings of Whetstone Creek reservation appeared.  Whites and Indians could be seen making their way leisurely toward the landing.

All dwellers on the Missouri River were always curious to see a steamboat of any size or description, and more especially one coming from below which usually brought new supplies.

This spot was utterly void of the vivid picture of the wild country which the new agent at Whetstone expected to see.  Instead, the “first bench,” or level ground extending immediately back from the river, was some eighty rods wide.  It was covered in most places with a thick growth of willows interlaced with wild vines.

A sharp rise of six or eight feet led to the “second bench,” another level stretch of ground which extended back to the bluffs, covered near the river with an undergrowth of oak, but soon running into prairie.  This rich bottom land followed the course of the river for some four miles which was cut off above and below by the bluffs.

Whetstone Creek, fringed with a very small growth of timber, broke through the range of bluffs from the west and joined the Missouri River.  Farther south Scalp Creek did the same.  These creeks contained running water only after severe rains, soon subsiding, and having nothing in their dry beds except “water holes” at long distances.

Whetstone Island, a short distance from the agency, furnished cottonwood logs for fuel and for building.  The pocket of land enclosed by the river and the bluffs contained about two thousand acres of rich alluvial soil.  In addition, Whetstone Creek bottom lands, suitable for cultivation, extended some distance farther back.

Near the edge of the second bench there was a row of rough log buildings which included the carpenter’s shop, blacksmith’s shop, and two medium-sized storehouses.  One storehouse included an office and council room for meetings.  In addition, a dispensary, the barn and stables, and saw mill were a part of the agency.

Behind the agency buildings were some irregularly located log huts which suggested that there was some intention of a street.  The rest of the ground back to the bluffs was occupied by Indian Tepees.  The trader’s store which occupied the central position was by far the most pretentious building of all.

At the time, this piece of ground with its buildings was known in Dakota Territory as the Whetstone Agency, and was regarded by most persons as the reservation of the Indians located there.  Even the Interior Department seemed to understand that the Indians were here confined within narrow and well-defined bounds.

The instructions which Captain Poole received while in Washington, D. C. was that “He was to be agent for Indians in the Sioux District, located upon a reservation . . .”   With the Poncas or the Santee Sioux, whose reservations contained only a few thousand acres each, agency and reservation were almost synonymous terms.

With the Indians at Whetstone it was entirely different.  The first information Poole received from the Natives after coming to the agency was that in place of being confined within narrow bounds, they claimed, and rightfully, all the land from the northern boundary of Nebraska to the current northern border of the state, and from the west bank of the Missouri to the current western border of South Dakota.  This was a vast area of land, containing at the low estimate forty-six thousand square miles, or nearly thirty million acres, over which they were free to roam at will.

The possession of this imposing domain was the cause of much misunderstanding and discontent.

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on August 21, 2024