TOWNS, TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES

A brief description of Sioux County settlements and links to larger and/or currently active places. It attempts to chronicle 21 known places in the county. Many were only rural post offices where some had their own buildings, some housed in country stores, and many located in the residence of the postmaster. Only a precious few continued to thrive and grow through the generations. Many of the below descriptions are from North Dakota Place Names by Douglas Wick and Origins of North Dakota Place Names by Mary Ann Barnes Williams but the information is not limited to those publications.

Pictures of Small North Dakota Towns website has
contemporary pictures of several Sioux County places.

Sioux County Postmaster History.

Belden.

Cannon Ball.

Cannon Ball Junction.

Carignan.  (Carrigan) This was a Northern Pacific Railroad station seven miles north of Fort Yates, just north of Battle Creek, straddling Section 1 & 2-131-80. The name honored John W.[sic] M. Carignan, who came to Fort Yates from Quebec, Canada in 1883 as a teenager, and was a merchant, legislator, and Postmaster. He was beloved by the Indians, who called him Mata Kokipapi, meaning afraid of bear. Carrignan and Carrigan are erroneous spellings

Cedar River. This was the fifth and last stage station, in what is now North Dakota, on the Bismarck to Deadwood trail established in 1876. It was located on the south bank of the Cedar River in Section 6-129-87, nine miles northeast of Morristown, South Dakota. Traces of the stables and living quarters were still visible in recent years.

Chadwick. This was a Milwaukee Road Railroad loading spur in Section 23-131-83, between Shields and Selfridge. The name honored Earl Chadwick Sr. who operated a stockyard at the site. Chadwick is a Celtic name meaning from the warrior's town. CHADWICK consisted of an old railroad car used as a bunkhouse, and a corral.

Fort Yates. 

Fort Yates Settlement. This settlement evolved from the old military post in Sections 12 & 13-130-80. The fort was officially abandoned July 25, 1903, although by this time the site was a thriving civilian settlement, officially declared as such in 1909. The post office, established in 1879 under military control, continued without interruption. The elevation is 1670, the Zip Code is 58538, and the city, which incorporated in 1964, reached a peak population of 1,153 in 1970. It is the county seat of Sioux County, and the headquarters of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which was opened for general settlement February 14, 1913. Father Bernard Strassmeier (1861-1940) was a Roman Catholic missionary here for fifty-four years.

Goose Camp. This was an Indian settlement of the late 1880's in Section 34-130-82, just southeast of present-day Selfridge, and named for Chief Joe Goose. See the Chief Goose biography for more information on Goose Camp.

Hekton.

Menz.

North McIntosh. This name is used for residents of southern Sioux County with telephone prefix 276, part of the exchange in McIntosh, South Dakota, which was named for the brothers who built the Milwaukee Road Railroad grade across the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 1909.

North Mclaughlin. This name is used for residents of Southeast Sioux County with telephone prefix 827, part of the exchange in McLaughlin, South Dakota.

North Morristown. This name is used for residents of Southwest Sioux County with telephone prefix 522, part of the exchange in Morristown, South Dakota, which was named for Nels P. Morris in 1917. Mr. Morris, a resident of Chicago, Illinois, was the owner of the Morris Packing Co. owners of the C-7 Ranch at this site, which at the time had 30,000 head of cattle.

Nosodak. This townsite was planned in 1910 in the southeast quarter of section 35-129-79, in the extreme southeast corner of the county on the west bank of the Missouri River just above the South Dakota border. It was to be a station on a new Northern Pacific Railroad mainline running from Mandan to Galveston, Texas, but this ambitious dream of a north-south railroad died in 1914. Although NOSODAK remained on many maps for about thirty years, it never grew beyond a railroad construction camp. The Western Townsite & Development Company coined the name from NOrth and SOuth DAKota, noting its location.

Porcupine. This is an old Indian settlement in Sections 29, 30, 31 & 32-132-83, on the east bank of the Cannonball River opposite Selfridge. It dates from about 1895, and was named for nearby Porcupine Creek. Some say the creek was named for a Sioux chief, while others say it notes the large population of porcupines in the area. The name of the animal, a large rodent noted for its stiff, sharp bristles, is a corruption of the Middle English porkepin, which is derived from the Latin porcus, meaning pig, and spina, meaning spine.

Selfridge.

Slabtown. This is a small village in Section 15-131-80, four miles north of Fort Yates near Proposal Hill. The origin of the name is unknown.

Sloptown. This is an abandoned Indian village in Section 36-134-82, just across the Cannonball River from Breien [Adams County] near the St. Gabriel Episcopal Mission. The settlement never had an official name, but local residents often used this derogatory title.

Solen. This Northern Pacific Railroad townsite was founded in 1910 in Township 134, Range 80, Section 30 and named for Mrs. Mary Louisa Van Solen, [Note: some records indicate Mr. and Mrs. Van Solen] a pioneer settler who was the first school teacher on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. She was the half-sister to Alma Jane Galpin Parkin. P. E. Thian, a Northern Pacific Railroad engineer official, is credited with suggesting the name SOLEN. The elevation is 1696, the Zip Code is 58570, and a peak population of 250 was claimed for a period of about thirty years beginning in 1935, but the official 1980 count was just 137.

Swastika. This was a rural community in the southeast quarter of section 27-130-86, on the south bank of Cedar Creek about twenty-four miles west of Selfridge. The post office was established June 16, 1912 with James C. Smith as Postmaster, and closed December 31, 1923 with mail to McIntosh, South Dakota. A population of 10 was reported in 1920. Mr. Smith's suggested name, Cedar Valley, was rejected by postal officials, after which it was named for the ancient symbol that has been found in use from Scandinavia to the Middle East, with a similar device being used by various Indian tribes. It was usually used as a symbol for good luck, but the swastika has fallen from favor since it was used by Nazi Germany.

Original Listing Contributed by The USGenWeb Project Sioux County, North Dakota Archives. Updates are from the above Wick and Williams publications, and updates from the public and editing by Mike Peterson. Send any updates to Mike Peterson.