Timeline...
1870 - 1879
The
World
1876: Battle of Little Bighorn, June 25 and 26. A combined
Lakota,
Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho force, overwhelms the 7th Cavalry
Regiment of the United States.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell successfully transmits the first
bi-directional transmission of clear speech. An improved design for the
“telephone” was patented the next year.
Canada
1874
The newly created Northwest Mounted Police march west from Dufferin,
Manitoba, on passing the Turtle Mountains they have a brief glimpse of
some of the Minnesota Sioux and their white captives.
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Manitoba
1874 - July 31 - First Russian Mennonites arrive at Winnipeg on the
steamer International.
1878 - December 4 - First freight by rail reached St. Boniface. Two
days later, the first freight for export was shipped by rail from St.
Boniface via steamer.
Rapid City (originally known as Farmer’s Crossing) established.
A Land Office was located there.
First grain elevator built in Niverville.
Steamboats service established the Assiniboine as far as Fort Ellice.
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Hartney
and the R.M.
of Cameron
1872
A large number of Santee Sioux had lived in the Turtle Mountains and
along the Souris River since 1863. In 1872 the Sioux along the
river
moved to a proposed reservation just south and west of Grande.
Clariere. This temporary 36 square mile reserve was only in use
for a
short time until a permanent reserve was set up.
1875
A Sioux Reserve is established at the junction of the Assiniboine and
Oak Rivers. This is the Oak River Reserve although it is often
referred to as Sioux Valley. Today it has a population of around
1,000
people, most of whom are Santee. At least two families on the
Reserve
claim their relatives were involved in the Custer Massacre.
1876
Battle of Little Bighorn
The western Sioux, Oglallas and Hunkpapas, along with the Santee
realized by 1870, that the Americans intended to take their homeland
regardless of the terms of the Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868.
War
with the U.S. Army followed with the Sioux winning two great victories
against General Crook and General Custer. But, then fortunes
changed
and the Sioux began the long migration to Canada in 1876.
According to L.C. Lockwood, a civilian Scout and Custer’s Troops
in
1876, following the Custer Massacre, one band of Sioux escaped to the
Turtle Mountain camping on the Canadian side beside Lake Flossie.
From there they sent raiding parties into the Dakotas to attack army
units and American settlements. To counteract his, the U.S. 7th
Cavalry was sent north to patrol the Canadian border along the Souris
River and Turtle Mountains. These attacks by the Sioux continued
for
two years. In 1878, the U.S. Army still kept pickets at Fort
Lincoln
(present day Bismarck) on the Missouri River, as the Sioux from the
Turtles had attacked the fort several times. It appears that this
band
of Sioux, probably Hunkpapas, maintained this Turtle Mountain
stronghold until 1885 and probably later.
By the end of 1876 more than 7,000 Sioux had crossed the Medicine line
into Canada.
1877
The Santee Sioux, in the Turtles, request a reserve from the Manitoba
Lieutenant-Governor. This was granted them on their promise not
to aid
the American Sioux, who were still at war with the American
authorities, and in 1878 they received a reserve north of Pipestone
near Oak Lake. Today this is called the Oak Lake Reserve.
In the same year a Turtle Mountain Reserve was established for a group
of Wapheton Sioux and some Hunkpapas from Lake Flossie. This
reserve
operated until 1907 when its residents were moved to the Oak Lake
Reserve. In 1908 then the Oak Lake Reserve included Waphetons,
Santee,
a few Hunkpapas and some descendents of Chief Inkpaduta (Santess
outlawed before 1862 by the main Santee Nation).
1879
Some of the Manitoba Sioux join one of the last Metis buffalo hunting
parties, a group of 500 men, women and children. While hunting along
the Souris River in Dakota they are attacked by General Miles and the
American Cavalry. The Sioux were forced to withdraw to Canada but
the
Metis were taken prisoner. The American authorities then tried to
settle the Metis permanently in the Turtle Mountains and on the
American side. This may have been the beginning of a Metis
settlement
that exists in the Turtles today.
A group of Ontario settlers started the settlement of Old Deloraine to
the north of the Turtle Mountains in Manitoba.
Two settlements appear on the Souris River. A Plum Creek
settlement
was started by Squire Sowden which became the present town of
Souris.
North east of Hartney a small village called Malta began. One of
the
first settlers was Jack Selby from Montana. He homesteaded on the
south side of the river on ec. 34, Tp. 6, Rge. 23. Malta
had a
blacksmith shop, a boarding house and a store, but in 1889 when the
C.P.R. built on the south side of the river, the residents all moved to
form the village of Menteith. To the south of Malta a ferry
operated
on the Section 7.
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