W. W. Brookings
The Squatter Government
at Sioux Falls BY WAYNE FANEBUST
P
eople began looking to the West while they were building the first towns and cities on the Atlantic coast. Everyone understood that they were facing a vast wilderness, fraught with danger unprecedented challenges. But for many people, the potential rewards outweighed the unknown threats. This eagerness for westward expansion was not lost on the many promoters and their schemes. Looking toward selling guide books and other materials needed for traveling, the schemers understood that both water and water power would attract those with adventuresome minds and ambitions. One such man was Jacob Ferris who in
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HISTORY
1856, wrote and published a book entitled Territories and States in the Great Northwest, that introduced thousands of curious people to the wonders of nature including falls of the Big Sioux River. Two companies, anxious to engage in town site speculation, were each very much attracted to the mysterious and far way falls, and having read Ferris’ book, both were soon on a collision course in an effort to get there first and claim the water power and the land surrounding it. The first to arrive in the fall of 1856, were two men from the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa. They claimed the falls for their company and had representatives there
the following spring when their rivals from the Dakota Land Company of St. Paul, Minnesota arrived on the scene. Perhaps sensing the big prize had been fairly claimed, both town site companies set about the matter of town building. Each company having claimed 320 acres, the enterprising men had work to do. As such, Sioux Falls and Sioux Falls City were created separately, although they were destined to merge into one entity. On the wild frontier, the need to feel safe and secure can hardly be understated. While a church or a school was often the first institution to be established in a pioneer settlement, putting together some rudimentary
