drove the settlers away, and destroyed the improvements made there. The settlers at Sioux Falls, learning of this, hastily fortified themselves, making a really strong post which they called Fort Sod. Mrs. Goodwin, the first white woman to settle in Dakota, had arrived a few days before, and she made a flag to float over the fort, out of all of the old flannel shirts to be found in the settlement. Most of the movable property was taken inside the fort and there the settlers were confined for six weeks, until their provisions were almost exhausted and they were reduced to the severest straits, when Major De Witt arrived with supplies. Really they were in little danger. Smutty Bear moved down into the vicinity of Sioux Falls, and, finding the settlers so thoroughly fortified, went away to the James River without molesting them or even opening communication with them. But the settlers did not know this, and there were too few of them to venture out to find out what the situation really was.
The next summer the promoters, still hopeful, established a newspaper called the Dakota Democrat, of which Samuel J. Albright was the editor, and which they continued to publish for two or three years. In the very first issue of this paper is printed a poem by Governor Henry Masters, entitled "The Sioux River at Sioux Falls." The first verse reads:—
Thou glidest gently, O thou winding stream,
Mirroring the beauty of thy flowery banks,
Now yielding to our souls elysian dreams,
For which we offer thee our heartfelt thanks.
