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     "YORKTOWN

[The authorities for this township and the interesting town that once flourished within it are the stones of C. H. Curtis, James Curtis, William J. Vecker, Mrs. James Pollock, Ben Nelson and Mr. Ira Barnes.]

IN the spring of 1882 three gentlemen from the State of New York, Rev. G. S. White, Rev. Robert Hogaboom and William Gilbert came to Dakota together for the purpose of taking up for themselves and others government land, and if the three could unite on a location the parties represented by them would constitute a sufficient number to form a settlement.

At that time there were no settlers in Township 131 between the Maple and James rivers. Preferring to keep outside the land grant limits of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company the gentlemen named looked over Township 131 Range 61, which so fully satisfied them that they at once chose it for their colony. At that time Ellendale was but three months old and the nearest railroad station. On the southwest quarter of Section 17 was found a beautiful location for a townsite surrounded by miles of fine farming country. A preliminary survey was secured, a line measured in from the township west (Maple) to get the location, the townsite fixed upon, and the country round about occupied by the parties represented by the building of claim shanties and a little breaking around each.

The land being as yet unsurveyed by the Government and the general belief being that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company would push on its road to Jamestown at once, the preliminary work of locating the New York colony was suspended until those forming it came to establish a residence in the spring of 1883 on the claims chosen for them.

On the return of Messers. White, Hogaboom and Gilbert to New York state with a report of their work here many others expressed a desire to join the colony which was made up of professional men, farmers and mechanics under the management of the eastern members of the company. Arrangements were perfected for bringing the first of the colony to Yorktown in April, 1883. Others soon followed and many from other states came and joined it. Rev. Mr. White and his two sons were the first actual residents, spending most of the summer of 1882 upon their claims. George A. White, one of the sons, was the first to open a store, beginning trade in April, 1883, and he was also the first postmaster at Yorktown. A. C. Hogaboom built the first residence on the townsite; Sutton & Stone Brothers were the pioneer hardware merchants. Later, Crocker & Holway from Boston, Massachusetts, built a fine store building. Messers. Mead, Jennings, Rounds, G. F. Morey, W. H. Main erected buildings upon the townsite, Mr. Morey's being the Yorktown House. Beck & Fell put up the first blacksmith shop. The first well to be put down in the township was on the townsite, a fine vein of water being struck at thirty-five feet, the work being done by James Curtis and Matt Kelley. The government had donated the townsite and from this fact any one who would put up a building was given a lot, so several of these buildings were located on donated sites.

On April 10, 1884, Mr. M. B. Kimball established a newspaper in Yorktown called the Dickey County Press. W. M. Teichman also erected a blacksmith shop in 1884. At first any settler brought the mail out from Ellendale, some one who was in town or the settlers took turns in bringing out the mail. Mr. Ira Barnes one of the first settlers brought mail out on foot from Ellendale. After LaMoure was established the stage line was changed to run through Yorktown between Ellendale and LaMoure. This was established as a mail route and the new town then had daily mail service both ways. W. A. Caldwell of Keystone established a loaning and land office upstairs in the post office building, offering loans of from $250.00 to $600.00 on good quarters of land. Hall & Holway also conducted a land and loan business.

The township of Yorktown was surveyed by the government surveyors in June of 1883, and was open for filing late that fall. At that time a settler was entitled to file on a homestead and tree claim at the same time, thus acquiring 320 acres of land. When the township was organized it consisted of the township in which Yorktown was located and also the township to the north afterward known as Wright township. The township was named Yorktown on account of its being settled by people mostly from York State.

Among the first settlers or squatters who filed in the township in 1883-1884 are the following; E. C. White, Chas. Young, Ira A. Barnes, M. P. Flagg, Mrs. Bell Bucklin, C. W. Palmer, who later became Treasurer of Dickey County, W. H. Main, Miss Hewit, George Pierce, W. M. Uecker, Sr., H. P. Holway, 2. Crocker, George White, Sr., George White, Jr., Albert White, Miss Carrie Holms, Mrs. M. B. Priest, George Vanfleect. Sr., Elizabeth West, Frank Van Middleworth, A. P. Morey, George Kellet, C. A. Birdsell, A. J. Wells, J. A. Dawe, James Kerr, C. A. Roundy, A. C. McKorkell, David Craig, Guidean Merchant, Dr. M. F. Merchant, Robert Arndt, Morg Jennings, Wm. Gilbert, A. C. Hogaboom, Sidney Mead, B. M. Gamber, Frank Lick, Mrs. Spiller, E. A. Fell, Matt Kelley, H. H. Peck, James Curtis, Wm. Gregg, Dell Williams, Alex Smith, George Earl, Chas. Morrison, Joseph Harrison, E. A. Wippich, Chas. Johnson, George Morrison, Jacob Elners, Mrs. Larkin, Neil McLean, Lafayette Crowell, Luke Killmer. R. D. Cook, N. Morgan, Sol Hunter, John Hunter, W. H. Seward, Sam Kessler, George Lippincott, Carl Nelson, B. L. Nelson, Cox brothers, Julius Hoganson, John Anderson, E. C. Holms, Ole Enger, Ser Holms, M. Cox, Sr., Olio Lindell, Garret Fort, Mrs. Alida Lewis, Annie Hoganson, Gil Swanson, G. F. Morey, Dr. Mead, Rev. While, Wm. Sloan. W. J. Uecker bought a relinquishment of Martin Flagg for $400.00, which purchase included a learn of horses, a wagon, a shanty, ind a few dishes and chairs.

The first homes built upon their claims were mostly of cheap material some simply built of sod and plastered on the inside with clay; some were built of one thickness of boards and sodded up on the outside, and some were entirely of lumber. They were all warm and comfortable, however, in the wintertime. Nearly all the barns were built of sod walls with either boards or hay for a roof and they were comfortable in the coldest weather.

The fuel that was used for cooking and heating by our first settlers consisted of soft coal (which could be bought then for about $6.00 a ton), hay and cow chips. Some families burned nothing but hay all through the winter months. There was no grain of any kind raised here in the year of 1883, that the writer has knowledge of, therefore there was no threshing to be done that year. In 1884, Charles and Frank Leonard of Kent township ran the first threshing machine in Yorktown, that being the year the first crop was raised, and this crop turned out well. Farming was carried on at that lime to a large extent with oxen. Many farmers having no horses at all were obliged to use oxen on the road as well as on the farms. Trips were often made to Ellendale and LaMoure with ox teams for supplies and delivery of their first crops, a distance of twenty miles or more, often the round trip being made in one day, or from four in the morning till twelve at night. Many of the early settlers on a Sunday put their families in the lumber wagon or on a stone-boat, hitched a yoke of oxen on and slowly wended their way to church: others not so lucky as to own even an ox-team went on foot. There were few buggies here at that time, but every one seemed to enjoy the means of travel.

The first Sunday School was organized in 1883 and held in Sutton & Stone's hardware store, with a good attendance. Later a suitable building was purchased for church purposes, which served as a church for many years.

Money was scarce with many of the early settlers in those days and work was also not very plentiful, and many of the new settlers were obliged to go north around Lisbon and Fargo to procure work for harvest and threshing to gel their winter supplies. Wages at those places were from $1.50 to $1.75 per day, and what little could be earned at those wages for a short time in the harvest fields did not get any luxuries for their families during the long, cold winter that followed; as the winter of 1883-1884 was a winter of deep snows and many blizzards lasting from two to three days, many of the low sod houses being completely buried with snow. But none of the early settlers of Yorktown perished in any of those storms, although some had narrow escapes before finding some place of shelter.

The first residence to burn in the township was the claim shanty of Otto Lindell, which took fire while he was out and burned up with all his belongings. The next to lose their home was the family of Mr. Cox whose house caught fire in the night and they too lost nearly all they had in the house.

The James River Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Plankington, Dakota wrote the first hail insurance in the county, but the people of the county felt they could maintain their own hail insurance company, organized a mutual company backed by many of the most substantial men in Dickey county, and they made it pay as witnessed by a letter sent with a refund check to Mr. Ira Barnes who was himself a member of the company, a Yorktown pioneer and still connected with the mutual insurance company for fire insurance in his county.

In April, 1883, the first religious service was held in Yorktown. The Rev. Bishop Haire of Sioux Falls was traveling from up in the north part of the territory, by stage, to Ellendale, and the Maple river was at flood and could not be crossed, as the ferry at the Hancock Crossing was not quite completed, so the Bishop was obliged to stop over Sunday at Yorktown. Word was sent out that the good old man would hold services if we would furnish the congregation, and fifty-two people gathered the next morning at eleven o'clock in the unfinished hardware store of Stone Brothers. Of that number only three remain in the vicinity (1925), according to a list that was written out by George Lippincott that morning. The pews were constructed from scaffold planks and empty nail kegs, and the pulpit was the stilt crated office desk.

On another occasion, in the winter of 1884, the stage from LaMoure to Ellendale was blocked by a bad storm, and compelled to stay over at the Morey House in Yorktown. Among the passengers was the Hon. Eli Perkins a noted lecturer of that day. "We boys"—which is the generic term for all settlers, either old or young, male or female—got into the village to the number of thirty-five or forty and were entertained for one and one-half hours by a lecture of the best humor and anecdote, from one of the most popular speakers of that day, and, best of all, it was free, "which just about fitted our pocket-books."

Among the early settlers of Yorktown township was Colonel George Roff, father of Mrs. A. J. Wells, and a man of wide acquaintance in New York and Chicago. He was among such men as Horace Greeley, and the Putnams, father and sons also, Pierpont Morgan and Hon. William McKinley. Mr. Roff conceived the plan of starting a Settlers' Library and proposed that the homesteaders should furnish a building, organize a board to manage it, raise enough money to pay the necessary expenses, such as postage, cataloging and labeling, while he would ask for donations of books and magazines. A Mr. Crowell of New York City donated a building, and the community took hold of the enterprise as a unit, and the result was that within eight months 1200 volumes of choice books and magazines were on the shelves. At the opening in June there were 400 people in attendance and Governor Burke came down from Bismarck and gave the address of dedication. There was a good dinner served at the church, where the tables were filled and reset three times. Mayor W. H. Ellis of Oakes, a popular lawyer of pioneer days, also spoke, as well as others of lesser note.

The first school others in Yorktown township were elected in 1883 and were; Director Geo. Roff, Clerk M. P. Flagg, Treasurer E. H. Fell. They called their first school board meeting on August 3, 1883. One of the important questions discussed was the location for the first school house to be built in Yorktown. The first school house was built in the fall of 1883 on the southwest quarter of Section 10. The size of the building was 12 by 14 with 7 foot posts. The furniture consisted of seats and desks made by the carpenter. The text books used in the school were books that the pupils happened to have on hand that were brought here from the East. There were fourteen scholars enrolled. Those who helped to erect the building were E. H. Fell, H. H. Peck and James Curtis. Professor C. 0. Roundy, a homesteader from New York was hired to teach the first term of school at a salary of $20.00 per month. Among those who attended the first term of school who still reside in the county are C. H. Curtis of Yorktown, Matt Kelley of Porter township, and Mrs. George Whitfield (Isabell Fell) of Glover.

One day one of the pupils looked out of the window and saw a herd of about one dozen antelopes passing by about eighty rods from the school house, and the teacher dismissed school so the pupils could go out and watch them. The antelopes stopped and looked at the people a few minutes and then ran off and were soon out of sight.

Mr. M. P. Flagg took the first school census in the district but the records do not show the number of children he found. The little 12 by 14 school house was moved to different locations to best serve the settlers for several years, and was finally sold to the highest bidder and now stands on the Otto Undell farm west of Fullerton, where it is a part of a dwelling house. Among the first teachers in Yorktown township were; Mr. C. 0. Roundy, Miss Cora M. White, Miss Sarah Smith, H. P. Holway, Nora Stevens, Eva Smith. The salary ranged from $20.00 to $26.00 per month.

In the year 1886 the Soo Railroad was surveyed through the township, also through the center of the townsite and the prospects looked good that Yorktown was to have a railroad station, but the station locators, after looking over the town went on and fell in with the men of the Fuller and Sweet ranch and did not come back to Yorktown, so the Soo people established a new town three miles further west named Fullerton, and Yorktown went the way of several other inland towns that were started in the early days; its buildings were moved away, some sold to settlers and moved to their claims, some were moved to other towns. The store of Crocker & Holway is now owned by Thomas Parks of Fullerton as a residence. The building used for a church was sold to J. A. Dawe of Maple township who made it over into a residence, and a41 that remains of the village of Yorktown at the present time (1928) is the farm house of Mrs.. A. P. Morey which was formerly the Yorktown House built by G. F. Morey.

Over in the eastern part of the township there was quite a settlement of Norwegians. A party of fourteen men had come out from Fargo looking for land 5n 1882. They were troubled by much rain and deep sloughs so did not find a location that year. Among these were B. L. Nelson and his brother Carl, Ole Enger, Erick Bye, John Anderson, Gilbert Swanson and Julius Hoganson. In the spring of 1883 they came out to Yorktown and found Wm. Gilbert anxious to earn a fee for locating people, and they as anxious to get located were soon on some land, they thought not the best in the locality but being anxious to get started they accepted their claims in the east side of the township. The land was just surveyed but was not yet opened for homesteading, so they "squatted" on what they were given and took a chance for filing when it should be opened. They paid 35.00 each to the locator for finding the land. Ole Enger located on the northwest of 26, Carl Nelson on southeast of 23, Eric Bye got southwest of 23, Erick Holm on northwest of 23, Ole Enger got 26 (no one else would look at it), Gilbert Swanson got southwest of 27 and Julius Hoverson the northeast of 34. The men went out to various jobs such as digging wells, breaking sod and anything to help them earn something and each one had to do some breaking for himself to hold his claim. These people constituted about one-third of the voting strength of the township and sometimes determined the elections. Of the original group of settlers who located on these tracts of land not one remained in 1925 except Mrs. Ole Enger.

Among the list of early settlers still residing in the township and vicinity in 1925 are; James Curtis, Otto Lindell, Mrs. Ole Enger, Robert Arndt, J. A. Dawe of Maple township, E. M. Wippich of Maple, Ira Barnes at Ellendale, B. L. Nelson and Carl Nelson of Wright township, Sol Hunter and Sam Kessler of Oakes, Mrs. Isabell (Fell) Whitfield of Glover, Matt Kelley of Porter township and John Anderson of Fullerton. Mr. A. C. Hogaboom of Yorktown was one of the first County Commissioners to be elected by the people following the original board appointed by Governor Ordway."⁸

     "YORKTOWN

[The authorities for this township and the interesting town that once flourished within it are the stones of C. H. Curtis, James Curtis, William J. Vecker, Mrs. James Pollock, Ben Nelson and Mr. Ira Barnes.]

IN the spring of 1882 three gentlemen from the State of New York, Rev. G. S. White, Rev. Robert Hogaboom and William Gilbert came to Dakota together for the purpose of taking up for themselves and others government land, and if the three could unite on a location the parties represented by them would constitute a sufficient number to form a settlement.

At that time there were no settlers in Township 131 between the Maple and James rivers. Preferring to keep outside the land grant limits of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company the gentlemen named looked over Township 131 Range 61, which so fully satisfied them that they at once chose it for their colony. At that time Ellendale was but three months old and the nearest railroad station. On the southwest quarter of Section 17 was found a beautiful location for a townsite surrounded by miles of fine farming country. A preliminary survey was secured, a line measured in from the township west (Maple) to get the location, the townsite fixed upon, and the country round about occupied by the parties represented by the building of claim shanties and a little breaking around each.

The land being as yet unsurveyed by the Government and the general belief being that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company would push on its road to Jamestown at once, the preliminary work of locating the New York colony was suspended until those forming it came to establish a residence in the spring of 1883 on the claims chosen for them.

On the return of Messers. White, Hogaboom and Gilbert to New York state with a report of their work here many others expressed a desire to join the colony which was made up of professional men, farmers and mechanics under the management of the eastern members of the company. Arrangements were perfected for bringing the first of the colony to Yorktown in April, 1883. Others soon followed and many from other states came and joined it. Rev. Mr. White and his two sons were the first actual residents, spending most of the summer of 1882 upon their claims. George A. White, one of the sons, was the first to open a store, beginning trade in April, 1883, and he was also the first postmaster at Yorktown. A. C. Hogaboom built the first residence on the townsite; Sutton & Stone Brothers were the pioneer hardware merchants. Later, Crocker & Holway from Boston, Massachusetts, built a fine store building. Messers. Mead, Jennings, Rounds, G. F. Morey, W. H. Main erected buildings upon the townsite, Mr. Morey's being the Yorktown House. Beck & Fell put up the first blacksmith shop. The first well to be put down in the township was on the townsite, a fine vein of water being struck at thirty-five feet, the work being done by James Curtis and Matt Kelley. The government had donated the townsite and from this fact any one who would put up a building was given a lot, so several of these buildings were located on donated sites.

On April 10, 1884, Mr. M. B. Kimball established a newspaper in Yorktown called the Dickey County Press. W. M. Teichman also erected a blacksmith shop in 1884. At first any settler brought the mail out from Ellendale, some one who was in town or the settlers took turns in bringing out the mail. Mr. Ira Barnes one of the first settlers brought mail out on foot from Ellendale. After LaMoure was established the stage line was changed to run through Yorktown between Ellendale and LaMoure. This was established as a mail route and the new town then had daily mail service both ways. W. A. Caldwell of Keystone established a loaning and land office upstairs in the post office building, offering loans of from $250.00 to $600.00 on good quarters of land. Hall & Holway also conducted a land and loan business.

The township of Yorktown was surveyed by the government surveyors in June of 1883, and was open for filing late that fall. At that time a settler was entitled to file on a homestead and tree claim at the same time, thus acquiring 320 acres of land. When the township was organized it consisted of the township in which Yorktown was located and also the township to the north afterward known as Wright township. The township was named Yorktown on account of its being settled by people mostly from York State.

Among the first settlers or squatters who filed in the township in 1883-1884 are the following; E. C. White, Chas. Young, Ira A. Barnes, M. P. Flagg, Mrs. Bell Bucklin, C. W. Palmer, who later became Treasurer of Dickey County, W. H. Main, Miss Hewit, George Pierce, W. M. Uecker, Sr., H. P. Holway, 2. Crocker, George White, Sr., George White, Jr., Albert White, Miss Carrie Holms, Mrs. M. B. Priest, George Vanfleect. Sr., Elizabeth West, Frank Van Middleworth, A. P. Morey, George Kellet, C. A. Birdsell, A. J. Wells, J. A. Dawe, James Kerr, C. A. Roundy, A. C. McKorkell, David Craig, Guidean Merchant, Dr. M. F. Merchant, Robert Arndt, Morg Jennings, Wm. Gilbert, A. C. Hogaboom, Sidney Mead, B. M. Gamber, Frank Lick, Mrs. Spiller, E. A. Fell, Matt Kelley, H. H. Peck, James Curtis, Wm. Gregg, Dell Williams, Alex Smith, George Earl, Chas. Morrison, Joseph Harrison, E. A. Wippich, Chas. Johnson, George Morrison, Jacob Elners, Mrs. Larkin, Neil McLean, Lafayette Crowell, Luke Killmer. R. D. Cook, N. Morgan, Sol Hunter, John Hunter, W. H. Seward, Sam Kessler, George Lippincott, Carl Nelson, B. L. Nelson, Cox brothers, Julius Hoganson, John Anderson, E. C. Holms, Ole Enger, Ser Holms, M. Cox, Sr., Olio Lindell, Garret Fort, Mrs. Alida Lewis, Annie Hoganson, Gil Swanson, G. F. Morey, Dr. Mead, Rev. While, Wm. Sloan. W. J. Uecker bought a relinquishment of Martin Flagg for $400.00, which purchase included a learn of horses, a wagon, a shanty, ind a few dishes and chairs.

The first homes built upon their claims were mostly of cheap material some simply built of sod and plastered on the inside with clay; some were built of one thickness of boards and sodded up on the outside, and some were entirely of lumber. They were all warm and comfortable, however, in the wintertime. Nearly all the barns were built of sod walls with either boards or hay for a roof and they were comfortable in the coldest weather.

The fuel that was used for cooking and heating by our first settlers consisted of soft coal (which could be bought then for about $6.00 a ton), hay and cow chips. Some families burned nothing but hay all through the winter months. There was no grain of any kind raised here in the year of 1883, that the writer has knowledge of, therefore there was no threshing to be done that year. In 1884, Charles and Frank Leonard of Kent township ran the first threshing machine in Yorktown, that being the year the first crop was raised, and this crop turned out well. Farming was carried on at that lime to a large extent with oxen. Many farmers having no horses at all were obliged to use oxen on the road as well as on the farms. Trips were often made to Ellendale and LaMoure with ox teams for supplies and delivery of their first crops, a distance of twenty miles or more, often the round trip being made in one day, or from four in the morning till twelve at night. Many of the early settlers on a Sunday put their families in the lumber wagon or on a stone-boat, hitched a yoke of oxen on and slowly wended their way to church: others not so lucky as to own even an ox-team went on foot. There were few buggies here at that time, but every one seemed to enjoy the means of travel.

The first Sunday School was organized in 1883 and held in Sutton & Stone's hardware store, with a good attendance. Later a suitable building was purchased for church purposes, which served as a church for many years.

Money was scarce with many of the early settlers in those days and work was also not very plentiful, and many of the new settlers were obliged to go north around Lisbon and Fargo to procure work for harvest and threshing to gel their winter supplies. Wages at those places were from $1.50 to $1.75 per day, and what little could be earned at those wages for a short time in the harvest fields did not get any luxuries for their families during the long, cold winter that followed; as the winter of 1883-1884 was a winter of deep snows and many blizzards lasting from two to three days, many of the low sod houses being completely buried with snow. But none of the early settlers of Yorktown perished in any of those storms, although some had narrow escapes before finding some place of shelter.

The first residence to burn in the township was the claim shanty of Otto Lindell, which took fire while he was out and burned up with all his belongings. The next to lose their home was the family of Mr. Cox whose house caught fire in the night and they too lost nearly all they had in the house.

The James River Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Plankington, Dakota wrote the first hail insurance in the county, but the people of the county felt they could maintain their own hail insurance company, organized a mutual company backed by many of the most substantial men in Dickey county, and they made it pay as witnessed by a letter sent with a refund check to Mr. Ira Barnes who was himself a member of the company, a Yorktown pioneer and still connected with the mutual insurance company for fire insurance in his county.

In April, 1883, the first religious service was held in Yorktown. The Rev. Bishop Haire of Sioux Falls was traveling from up in the north part of the territory, by stage, to Ellendale, and the Maple river was at flood and could not be crossed, as the ferry at the Hancock Crossing was not quite completed, so the Bishop was obliged to stop over Sunday at Yorktown. Word was sent out that the good old man would hold services if we would furnish the congregation, and fifty-two people gathered the next morning at eleven o'clock in the unfinished hardware store of Stone Brothers. Of that number only three remain in the vicinity (1925), according to a list that was written out by George Lippincott that morning. The pews were constructed from scaffold planks and empty nail kegs, and the pulpit was the stilt crated office desk.

On another occasion, in the winter of 1884, the stage from LaMoure to Ellendale was blocked by a bad storm, and compelled to stay over at the Morey House in Yorktown. Among the passengers was the Hon. Eli Perkins a noted lecturer of that day. "We boys"—which is the generic term for all settlers, either old or young, male or female—got into the village to the number of thirty-five or forty and were entertained for one and one-half hours by a lecture of the best humor and anecdote, from one of the most popular speakers of that day, and, best of all, it was free, "which just about fitted our pocket-books."

Among the early settlers of Yorktown township was Colonel George Roff, father of Mrs. A. J. Wells, and a man of wide acquaintance in New York and Chicago. He was among such men as Horace Greeley, and the Putnams, father and sons also, Pierpont Morgan and Hon. William McKinley. Mr. Roff conceived the plan of starting a Settlers' Library and proposed that the homesteaders should furnish a building, organize a board to manage it, raise enough money to pay the necessary expenses, such as postage, cataloging and labeling, while he would ask for donations of books and magazines. A Mr. Crowell of New York City donated a building, and the community took hold of the enterprise as a unit, and the result was that within eight months 1200 volumes of choice books and magazines were on the shelves. At the opening in June there were 400 people in attendance and Governor Burke came down from Bismarck and gave the address of dedication. There was a good dinner served at the church, where the tables were filled and reset three times. Mayor W. H. Ellis of Oakes, a popular lawyer of pioneer days, also spoke, as well as others of lesser note.

The first school others in Yorktown township were elected in 1883 and were; Director Geo. Roff, Clerk M. P. Flagg, Treasurer E. H. Fell. They called their first school board meeting on August 3, 1883. One of the important questions discussed was the location for the first school house to be built in Yorktown. The first school house was built in the fall of 1883 on the southwest quarter of Section 10. The size of the building was 12 by 14 with 7 foot posts. The furniture consisted of seats and desks made by the carpenter. The text books used in the school were books that the pupils happened to have on hand that were brought here from the East. There were fourteen scholars enrolled. Those who helped to erect the building were E. H. Fell, H. H. Peck and James Curtis. Professor C. 0. Roundy, a homesteader from New York was hired to teach the first term of school at a salary of $20.00 per month. Among those who attended the first term of school who still reside in the county are C. H. Curtis of Yorktown, Matt Kelley of Porter township, and Mrs. George Whitfield (Isabell Fell) of Glover.

One day one of the pupils looked out of the window and saw a herd of about one dozen antelopes passing by about eighty rods from the school house, and the teacher dismissed school so the pupils could go out and watch them. The antelopes stopped and looked at the people a few minutes and then ran off and were soon out of sight.

Mr. M. P. Flagg took the first school census in the district but the records do not show the number of children he found. The little 12 by 14 school house was moved to different locations to best serve the settlers for several years, and was finally sold to the highest bidder and now stands on the Otto Undell farm west of Fullerton, where it is a part of a dwelling house. Among the first teachers in Yorktown township were; Mr. C. 0. Roundy, Miss Cora M. White, Miss Sarah Smith, H. P. Holway, Nora Stevens, Eva Smith. The salary ranged from $20.00 to $26.00 per month.

In the year 1886 the Soo Railroad was surveyed through the township, also through the center of the townsite and the prospects looked good that Yorktown was to have a railroad station, but the station locators, after looking over the town went on and fell in with the men of the Fuller and Sweet ranch and did not come back to Yorktown, so the Soo people established a new town three miles further west named Fullerton, and Yorktown went the way of several other inland towns that were started in the early days; its buildings were moved away, some sold to settlers and moved to their claims, some were moved to other towns. The store of Crocker & Holway is now owned by Thomas Parks of Fullerton as a residence. The building used for a church was sold to J. A. Dawe of Maple township who made it over into a residence, and a41 that remains of the village of Yorktown at the present time (1928) is the farm house of Mrs.. A. P. Morey which was formerly the Yorktown House built by G. F. Morey.

Over in the eastern part of the township there was quite a settlement of Norwegians. A party of fourteen men had come out from Fargo looking for land 5n 1882. They were troubled by much rain and deep sloughs so did not find a location that year. Among these were B. L. Nelson and his brother Carl, Ole Enger, Erick Bye, John Anderson, Gilbert Swanson and Julius Hoganson. In the spring of 1883 they came out to Yorktown and found Wm. Gilbert anxious to earn a fee for locating people, and they as anxious to get located were soon on some land, they thought not the best in the locality but being anxious to get started they accepted their claims in the east side of the township. The land was just surveyed but was not yet opened for homesteading, so they "squatted" on what they were given and took a chance for filing when it should be opened. They paid 35.00 each to the locator for finding the land. Ole Enger located on the northwest of 26, Carl Nelson on southeast of 23, Eric Bye got southwest of 23, Erick Holm on northwest of 23, Ole Enger got 26 (no one else would look at it), Gilbert Swanson got southwest of 27 and Julius Hoverson the northeast of 34. The men went out to various jobs such as digging wells, breaking sod and anything to help them earn something and each one had to do some breaking for himself to hold his claim. These people constituted about one-third of the voting strength of the township and sometimes determined the elections. Of the original group of settlers who located on these tracts of land not one remained in 1925 except Mrs. Ole Enger.

Among the list of early settlers still residing in the township and vicinity in 1925 are; James Curtis, Otto Lindell, Mrs. Ole Enger, Robert Arndt, J. A. Dawe of Maple township, E. M. Wippich of Maple, Ira Barnes at Ellendale, B. L. Nelson and Carl Nelson of Wright township, Sol Hunter and Sam Kessler of Oakes, Mrs. Isabell (Fell) Whitfield of Glover, Matt Kelley of Porter township and John Anderson of Fullerton. Mr. A. C. Hogaboom of Yorktown was one of the first County Commissioners to be elected by the people following the original board appointed by Governor Ordway."¹³