Show THE STORY OF OUR STATES by JONATHAN BRACE by mcclure DAKOTAS ORTH and south N dakota formed the northern section of the louisiana purchase b athe acquisition of which from france the united states nearly doubled its size although little was known especially of the remote sec alons of tills huge territory it Is said that napoleon when signing the transfer remarked that the accession of ter altory established forever the power of the united states the dakotas were the last states which made up wholly from this purchase to become a part of the union shortly after its acquisition the lewis and dark expedition was sent out to explore it and they spent their first winter in 1804 near mandan the british had many fur posts in this region and as they considered it part of british territory they built a tort in 1810 near pembina british rights however were withdrawn in the treaty of 1818 which established the formal boundary between the united states and canada sioux indians THE who had been very hostile toward white invasion final ly ceded a portion of their land to the government in 1851 this was opened up 0 settlement and thus immigration was started in this part of the country in 1854 the section west of the missouri ivor became a part of the nebraska while the portion to the east vas attached to minnesota however in the separate territory of dakota was organized population did not increase rapidly until 1866 due to the warlike demonstrations of the indians it Is from these indians that the name dakota comes but it was not until 1889 that the dakota territory was divided and formed into two to avoid any feeling of jealousy as to which was made a state first the two bills were signed by president after they had been re shuffled so it Is not known which was signed first their areas are about the same north da kota containing square miles while south dakota has square miles the population Is also about equal and each Is entitled to five presidential ident ial electors MONTANA mention of montana history immediately brings to mind alie ouster massacre as one of the most dramatic incidents in indian warfare it occurred in lyau the centennial year when special emphasis was being laid on the cause of peace throughout the world the sioux indians biad been driven into montana by the gold miners and the united states government took steps to force them back onto their reservations general custer with less than men set out to round up the tribes which were on the war path and at the little bighorn river was ambushed by sitting bull and warriors ouster and all his troopers were killed soon after tills massacre the indians were defeated and many of them fled to canada the earlier history of the state also turns about the indians the first settlements were made as posts for fur trading with the early in the nineteenth century in 1840 father peter john de smet began mission work among the f indians and the next year established a mission of the indians of bitter boot valley gold was discovered in montana as early as 1852 by the halt breed fran cols finlay near hell gate river this however created little stir and it gasn wasn t until five years later when john silverthorn discovered gold in ties that mining settlements sprang up in the mountains this region bad been part of nebraska territory which in 1863 was subdivided and became a portion of idaho territory the next jear it was organized as the separate territory of montana virginia city was the capital ind bore in 1865 was issued the montana pst the first newspaper of the state it 1874 the capital was changed to helena and ten years later a state institution was adopted the state nas not taken into the union how ever until 1889 montana comes from the spanish adjective meaning mountainous its area Is square miles making it the third largest state of the union As it Is thinly populated montana has only four electoral votes for president |