In 1862 Walsh County was included in a region known as Kittson County, and in 1867 was included in Pembina County, which then extended from the Red River west, taking in Cavalier County, and south to the Sheyenne. Voting precincts were established at Park River, now in Walsh, Stump Lake, now in Nelson, Dead Island, now in Cavalier, and Sheyenne, now in Cass, the latter taking in most of Walsh, Grand Forks, Traill and Richland counties. The voting place was near Georgetown, then a Hudson's Bay post.

In 1871 the Grand Forks Precinct was established, taking in Grand Forks, and part of Walsh and Traill counties, and west to the Pembina Mountains. The voting place was at the house of James Stuart at Grand Forks. Thomas Walsh, S. C. Code and John Fadden were appointed judges of election. The northern limits of the precinct were Park River, the Goose River formed the southern boundary and the crest of the Pembina Mountains the western boundary.

WALSH COUNTY ORGANIZED In 1873 Grand Forks and Cass counties were created from a part of Pembina, and in 1881 Walsh from parts of Grand Forks and Pembina, and was organized August 30,1881, Governor Ordway having appointed George P. Harvey, William Code and Benjamin C. Askelson county commissioners. They appointed Jacob Reinhardt, sheriff; E. O. Faulkner, judge of probate; K. O. Skatteboe, treasurer; Eugene Kane, surveyor; Dr. N. H. Hamilton, coroner; Dr. R. M. Evans, superintendent of schools; John Harris, Charles Finkle, J. A. Delaney and William Richie, justices of the peace. John Ross, Thomas Trainor, G. W. Gilbert and Whitefield Durham, constables. P. J. McLaughlin was later appointed state's attorney and John N. Nelson assessor. The judge appointed W. A. Cleland clerk of the court, and under a special act of the Legislature Edwin O. Faulkner became the first county auditor.

Settlements commenced on points on the Red River in 1870, and in 1874 title was secured to lands in Walshville in anticipation of laying out a village. A town was later laid out at Acton, then known as Kelly's Point, by Antoine Girard, and here the first mercantile interests, aside from the old Indian and Hudson's Bay posts, were established by Jacob Eshelman, William Budge and W. J. Anderson. In 1881 and the following year settlers commenced making their homes on the Red River, on the Park and the Forest, and by 1881, when the county was created,' it is estimated there were 800 people in the county. School districts and towns had been organized either as a part of Grand Forks or Pembina and Acton had become a village, and a newspaper, the Acton News, later moved to Grafton, becoming a part of the News and Times, had been established.

Grafton was an incident of the railroad construction of 1881. The land on which it was located was entered in 1878 by T. E. Cooper, who secured the establishment of a postoffice early next year, and in July, 1879, regular mail service from Acton to Sweden via Grafton was commenced. The post office was called Grafton, in memory of Mrs. Cooper's old home in Grafton, New Hampshire. Mr. Cooper built the first hotel at Grafton.

The first teacher in the schools of Grafton was Joseph Geary. He was succeeded by Mr. W. J. Shumway. Mr. Shumway was assisted by Mrs. E. S. Mott. Mr. Shumway was succeeded by Mr. A. McCully as principal. Mr. McCully was assisted by Mr. D. C. Koss and Miss Kate Driscoll. The schools were not thoroughly graded until the fall of 1885. The territorial Legislature of 1885 passed an act creating the City of Grafton a special independent district; the government of the schools is today under the same act, and it has been found on the whole satisfactory.

This act was approved by the governor March 9, 1885, and the first board under that was elected April 7, 1885. It consisted of five members, two at large and one member for each of the three wards. This board consisted of Messrs. William Tiemey, C. A. M. Spencer, H. C. Upturn, F. E. Chase and E. O. Faulkner. The board organized with F. E. Chase as president and E. O. Faulkner clerk. Its' first business was to bond the district for $15,000 to erect the main part of the central building. This was-built during the summer of 1885. It is two stories high, built of brick and contains six large school and two recitation rooms. In August, 1885. Mr. J. C. P. Miner, a graduate of Harvard University, was engaged as principal, with Misses Mary D. Mattison, Kate Driscoll and Lucy Killeen as assistants. PARK RIVER Park River was a wheat field in 1884 and the wheat was removed to make way for the townsite and was first known as Kensington. The first settler in the vicinity of Park River for agricultural purposes was Charles G. Oaks, an old Hudson's Bay Company employee, who settled at what was afterward known as Kensington in November, 1878, and those who came later constituted what became known as the Scotch settlement The next and now the recognized oldest settler, was Charles F. Ames, who settled January 16, 1879. Among the other names recalled by the old settlers were William and Alex Bruce, James Smith, George Brown, James Maloney, Ed Carman and George Kennedy. Hans Robertson was the first in the Norwegian neighborhood and dates his settlement also from January, 1879. There were no settlers west of him at that time and few indeed between what is now Park River and Grand Forks. Accompanying Hans Robertson were Andrew Y. Anderson, Thomas Thompson, Iver Iverson and Knud K. Halstad and Peter Sager. The Kensington settlers came from Canada: the Scandinavians from Iowa, stopping first, however, in Traill County.

In 1879 Charles H. Honey and John Wadge, brothers-in-law, came from their Canadian home in Kensington, where they selected land. Wadge remained and Honey came on the next season, followed by other relatives and friends. Other settlers in 1879 were Thomas Wadge, George Nicklin, William, Edward and Benjamin Code, William Craig, E, O. Faulkner, John and Fred Robb, Peter Campbell, Alexander Smith, William Davis, R. B. Hunt, William Burbridge and John Baird.

The postoffice was established at Kensington in February, 1880, with E. O. Faulkner postmaster. It was served from Sweden. Later the office was moved to the home of C. H. Honey, Mr. Faulkner having become county auditor, and later it was discontinued and Park River established in its stead, when C. H. Honey became the first postmaster at Park River.

[Source: "Early history of North Dakota" by Clement A.Lounsberry; Liberty Press, 1919 - Submitted by K. Torp ]

THE CANADIANS CELEBRATE JULY 4

An amusing incident is related of the first settlers in the Scotch settlement. The settlers all came from Canada and knew little of the customs of the people of the United States and still less of their traditions, but they had sworn allegiance to the Government and felt in honor bound to celebrate its natal day. Accordingly a preliminary meeting was held for the arrangement of a program and during the rambling discussion some one suggested that the Declaration of Independenee should he read. "And what is that?" was the quick response from the crowd. Accordingly Thomas Catherwood, the settlement's first teacher, was called upon to read it for the information of the meeting. It was at once recognized as a fit thing to be presented on such an occasion.

In the fall of 1879 the grass was especially heavy. At some points it was higher than a horse and generally on the low lands as high as a wagon box. A dense smoke indicated a prairie fire. The settlers turned out and plowed a fire break three furrows wide and eight miles long, but it had no greater effect than a tow string toward stopping the progress of the fire. Hay stacks went up in flame when the fire apparently was still fifteen rods away. John Robb of the force making the fire breaks was caught by the flames and, unable to escape, rushed through them. His heavy beard and brows were completely burned. It was a close shave, literally, and it was a narrow escape for his life. The cattle escaped to the river and it was hours before they could be gotten from their place of refuge.

By June, 1880, almost every claim was taken, the settlers coming in in groups of all sizes, from two or three families up to twenty. The "prairie schooners" were seen moving at all times of day and in every direction the squatters were seen making the improvements necessary to hold their claims. There was no opportunity for large farms. Few indeed suceeded in securing more than one claim of 160 acres. Occasionally a son, daughter or sister, or acommodating friend used their rights to help out the family. The land was not surveyed till 1870 and not open to filing until 1880.

Most of the early settlers took claims near the river and divided up the timber partly in a spirit of accommodation and partly in order to bring the settlement closer together. Hence most of the first claims were a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long.

 

EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
Essential Outlines of American History by Colonel Clement A. Lounsberry Founder of the Bismarck Tribune
ILLUSTRATED Complete In One Volume Washington, D. C. Liberty Press, 76 New York Avenue, N. E. 1919
(transcribed and submitted by Diana Heser Morse)

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