The History and Culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
Most people associate the notorious bad man Jessie James and his gang with the State of Missouri; however, North Dakota and especially Spirit Lake tribal members also enter the grand play called history.
The James’s North Dakota connection is vast and varied. There are so many twists and turns, names, and locations it is hard to know where to begin.
I first learned of Jessie James’s connection to the tribe on January 19, 1981 when funeral director John Burke told me that the Edward Lohnes family hid Jessie James at their home by Sweetwater Lake. He said the James Lamoreau family was also involved in protecting the James’s. Mr. Burke said the dugout was located on the Jack McCarthy farm which I visited, but Jack knew nothing of the James brothers living there. Jack did show me the location of the Lohnes log house in his yard which he saw as a boy, having been torn down years ago. On January 24, 1981 I visited with Dennis Cavanaugh and his wife Susie. Dennis said he never heard of the James’s hiding out in the area. He did say his mother fed the James and Younger gang when they were at Faribault, Minnesota salt pork and corn bread. They left money under their plates when they left. Dennis said he had an uncle Watts in Faribault and a niece who ran a hotel in Rochester. He mentioned the gang shooting in the air when they came to town. The school teacher made her students sing to keep their minds off the shooting. Unfortunately, now I realize I should have asked more about these events.
Asking around further, no one seemed to know anything as these events which occurred over 100 years ago. On January 9, 1983 I was visiting with Father Dan at St. Michael, ND. I happened to ask about Jessie James. He became very annoyed at me, asking who told me. He said everyone now a days is so proud of the outlaws. With his next breath he told me of the Santee, Nebraska connection and about the Lohnes family living at Sweetwater Lake on Burnt Wood Island before moving on to the reservation. He said the Chase families at Santee are descendants of Frank or Jessie James. They also hid in the Devils Nest area after attempting to rob the bank at Northfield, Minnesota. From Santee they moved on to Billings, Montana and sent word to their Indian wives, sisters, at Santee to join them, but by this time the wives found out they were outlaws and their father refused to let them go. The Chapman family is also related.
As the tale is woven, the James gang followed a trail on the west side of the Red River valley known as the McKenzie Drift. They stopped at an outlaw town east of Devils Lake called Bartlett before moving on to the Lohnes Homestead.
The City of Devils Lake was founded by a shady character named Herbert Creel whose mother was first cousin to General Stonewall Jackson. It is possible the James arrived in the Devils Lake area in order to contact Creel. Creel is another story in itself. He was a West Point graduate who was stationed at Ft. Totten. He is accused of every early day criminal activity imaginable from swindling to robbery. His wife Alice Rue came from a southern sympathizer family too. Mrs. Olivia Kingree who wrote a historical column for the Devils Lake Journal, a six-part series, “Did you Know – the James Gang’s Lake Region Connection”, which focus’s on Col. Creel. She was writing a biography of Creel. She has since moved away to parts unknown to me (Kingree 2006; Eriksmoen 2005).
To be continued….
