Texas

Thank You...Many thanks to Fern Chicoine of Elk Point, South Dakota for her research on the community of Texas.  All of the following information was compiled by Fern and represents many hours of research and interviews.
The Steamboats...(No account of the settlement of Texas would be complete without a brief history of the steamboat traffic on the Missouri River.)  "Woodpile", the mate shouted as the steamboat was tied up to one of the cottonwood trees at Texas City on the Missouri River.  Certainly the arrival of a steamboat in port was exciting to the "Texans".  The wooding of a boat was a busy experience for all the voyagers as the word "woodpile" was a one word command to disembark and start hauling wood on board.

Several decades before, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery disembarked in this same area.  Wednesday, August 22, 1804...At daybreak camp was broken and sailing with the assistance of a strong south wind they soon made the three miles to Ponca landing where they found Droulliard and Colter awaiting them, with the horses and two deer which they had killed. ( Droulliard and Colter had been gone hunting apart from the rest for several days.)  There the party took breakfast and the scientists set to work to discover the character of the material in Dixon's Bluff.

For a hundred years, the Missouri River was the main mode of transportation and thus, created much of the history of the country through which it flowed.  The steamboat was built as a river "work horse" and in time, it became a romantic, majestic vessel.  Steamboats began navigating the Missouri River in 1831 and in twenty years they had come into their own.

The average steamboat was approximately 30 feet wide by 200 feet long, drawing only three or four feet of water, being almost entirely above the surface.  They could average 75 miles a day upstream with good weather conditions. Fueling was the major problem on the Missouri River, as they burned mainly cottonwood and willow with the crew sometimes cutting the wood themselves.  The regular boat crew numbered from 30 to 40, but with the passengers, there were usually from 100 to 200 people on board.  

Navigation on the ocean was simple compared to the Missouri River.  The Missouri River pilot was unsurpassed in his profession.  He could not be absent from the wheel more than five minutes because of the swift current, snags and the prairie wind.  Three outstanding Missouri River pilots were Captains Joseph LaBarge, Grant Marsh and William Massie. Their wages were often $1200 per round trip.  It is inconceivable, in these hard times, to read Captain William Massie received $7500 in salary for one round trip from St. Louis to Fort Benton.  Captain Massie was playing poker with Wild Bill Hickock the day Wild Bill was shot and killed. The bullet passed through Wild Bill's head and pierced Captain Massie's left arm.

Settlers had filled up the lower valley of the Missouri River, and by 1854, they reached Sioux City.  Sioux City became a navigation center. The government docks were located on the Big Sioux River approximately one mile upstream from the mouth.  There were two buildings and a foot bridge suspended across the river.  One of the buildings was a storage shed full of government supplies.  Large steamboats such as the McPherson and Mandan docked there.  The practical purpose of these docks being uncertain, one would reason they could have been used for refueling, repairing, and/or wintering the steamboats.

The steamboat Benton's log, April 19, 1880 states they left Sioux City with 26 passengers and 188 tons of freight and they had not gone a mile until they had two men overboard, one of whom was saved.

A Yankton Press, Yankton, Dakota Territory statement of the shipping business of Sioux City, Iowa during the months of May, June and July, 1872 is, as follows:

The Beginning...The 1892-95 Missouri River Commission Maps show the Ponca Ferry 27.3 miles from the mouth of the Big Sioux River. The following article was printed in the Yankton Press, April 5, 1871: "Six miles southeast of Elk Point is the new town of Texas, situated on the Missouri River, and opposite Ponca Landing, Nebraska.  The town contains a first-class hotel, store, etc., and also a horse ferry crossing the Missouri.   Texas is a lumbering town, and supplies large quantities to the people of Union County and to the Sioux Valley.

The legal description including Texas is lots 3, 4 & 5 of the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 19 in Township 90 of Range 49.  Under the 8th section of the Homestead Act approved by Congress May 20, 1862, Isaiah Bowman swore that he had settled these lots. On the 15th day of September 1862, he had built a house and cultivated seven acres of land.  From September, 1862 to June 25, 1866, he had made improvements of a stalk (original spelling) yards and pasture field and plowed, fenced and cultivated about seven acres of said land. 

The Post Office...The Post Office records reveal Texas, Union County, Dakota Territory, established a Post Office on October 4, 1870 and discontinued it on January 27, 1875. 
 The postmasters were:
William D. Long - Appointed October 4, 1870
Isaac Quick - Appointed May 27, 1872
Isaiah Bowman - Appointed June 19, 1873
Daniel Ballinger - Appointed February 25, 1874
Isaac Quick - Appointed April 22, 1874

Mrs. Wanda Squired moved into the Texas Hotel in 1919.  She told of the many sinkholes caused by quicksand near the house which they had to be wary of.  The rectangular shaped house was approximately 30 feet by 60 feet with little foundation.  it was constructed of yellow cottonwood with horizontal lapsiding.  It, of course, faced south to the river. The winder were 6 paned.  There were two front doors.  At the very east end of the house was a large pantry; the kitchen with a front door opening; the parlor; a front door opening into a hallway and enclosed stairway leading upstairs; and two small bedrooms, one on the northwest and one on the southwest corner of the house.  On the second floor there were several small bedrooms.  Wanda told it was a cold house and she had to cover her Christmas cactus to keep it from freezing in the winter.  The hotel burned in the 1970's.  On the northeast corner of there the hotel stood, there is, still buried, a stainless steel windlass, which was used to cool the perishables.

Mrs. Jean Austin states the original deeds of Texas were plotted in 10 acres lots.  It was the practice of these frontiersmen to buy 10 acres and clear the timber.  After selling the timber to the steamboats, they would let the land go back.  An interesting fact is a cottonwood stump was used as a beginning of a 10 acres boundary.  When the field on the Austin farm is worked, bricks still appear from the old sawmill.  The sawmill was approximately 65 yards from the northeast corner of the hotel.

The Sawmills...Union County had a large supply of timber.  Located between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers, there was a timber belt on both sides of the county. The belt along the Missouri River averaged about two miles in depth.  The timber in Union County supplied Sioux City as well as Dakota.  Later, in 1892, The Timber and Stone Act, when amended, applied to the whole nation.  Under this act, the individual had to swear the land was not suitable for agricultural purposes.  The land could be purchased from the federal government for $2.50 per acre with a limit of 160 acres.

In the Ponca Bend, in the Missouri Timber, was the steam mill of C. W. Patten and two miles above it, at the newly-established town of Texas at the Ponca Ferry Crossing, was the steam mill of S. B. Stough.  The latter mill was in operation in 1868 under the management of Henry Quick.  Most of the mills had shingle machines attached to them.

In 1872, J. W. Hoffman and Mr. Letter began a sawmill business two miles northwest of the Ponca Ferry, as Mr. Hoffman had a lumber yard in Elk Point.  On May 22, 1872, the Union County Courier printed a "New advertisement" of S. B. Stough.  "His mill at the Ponca Ferry, Post Office, Texas, has the finest quality lumber and shingles in the county, besides being as cheap as the cheapest" . April 16, 1873, the Union County Courier advertised E. R. Remington's cottonwood at $2.50 per cord at his residence one half mile from Hoffman's and Letter's Sawmill.  On July 9, 1873, The Union County Courier advertised C. W. Patten had on hand dry cottonwood lumber at his mills, 7 miles south of Elk Point.  

The Ferry...The ferry was an important segment in the business life of Texas.  There were various articles printed in the Union County Courier concerning the ferries.

May 27, 1874: The County Commissioners received a petition signed by 10 citizens of Union County asking that a steam ferry be established at a point opposite the town of Texas.  Notice is given that on June 11, 1874, they will offer to the highest bidder all the rights, franchises, exclusions and privileges of said ferry for 5 years.  The distance will cover from 5 miles above and 5 miles below said town of Texas.  E. W. Laird, Chairman, County Commissioners.
June 17, 1874: Bids have been received for a steam ferry across the Missouri River at the town of Texas, according to the notice published. Mr. M. B. DeWitt bid the sum of $3.00 per year for 5 years and the following resolutions were adopted:  M. B. DeWitt and Jefferson Wilbur have leased a steam ferry at a point on the Missouri River opposite Texas in Union County for 5 years.  They had to put up $1000 bond.
June 24, 1874: The Ponca Ferry is now in good running trim.
April 4, 1875: The Union County Commissioners received a petition from Stephen Welch and Albert Hughes for a ferry charter at Texas.  The Register of Deeds was ordered to post notices for other bids. Privilege carried.
September 3, 1875: The farmers of Nebraska are appreciating the Elk Point market.  The ferry at Ponca Bend is improved, paddle wheels substituting oars, and horse power for man power.
September 10, 1875: The ferry boat at the Ponca Landing is a good one, and it takes 3 loaded wagons so the quantity of wheat taken into Elk Point is immense.  This continue as long as they are deprived of a railroad and C. W. Beggs, of Elk Point, is paying good prices as well as part of the ferry fees.
March 28, 1877: Nr, A. J. Maury, proprietor of the Ponca Ferry wishes to inform the people of this county and Dakota that he will have a number one ferry in good running order within ten days, and the charges for crossing the old Missouri will be at hard times rates.
May 10, 1878: Application of H. N. Elwell for ferry charter at Texas landing on the Missouri River and bids will be taken for the maintenance of a ferry at said point.  Bidder must file a bond in the sum of $500 conditioned that he shall run a good ferry for the period of five years with safety and dispatch. (County Commissioners Proceedings)
June, 1878: Mr. Elwell had quite an accident happen to his ferry at Texas Crossing.  The bank caved off and sank it, and until the river falls sufficient to have it raised, he will use the old boat.

The Cemetery...

Sources
*Doane Robinson's Encyclopedia of South Dakota p.415
The WI-IYOHI Vol. XXIV, July 1, 1970 p.3