Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/113

 CHAPTER XVIII A CAMPAIGN THAT FAILED

related in earlier chapters, the land now occupied by the state of South Dakota was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana purchase (1803) and was included in the territory of Missouri, organized in 1812. But this land remained the property of Indian tribes, and was not settled by white men for more than forty years. The part east of the Missouri River, meanwhile, was made successively part of Michigan territory (1834), Wisconsin territory (1836), Iowa territory (1838), and Minnesota territory (1849). The part west of the Missouri was included in the original limits of Nebraska territory (1854).

When it became apparent that the state of Minnesota was to be admitted to the Union with its western boundary as at present located, and not upon the Big Sioux River as had been anticipated, a party of democratic politicians at St. Paul, believing that a new territory would speedily be organized out of the portion of Minnesota territory not within the state boundaries, formed a company for the purpose of securing control of all of the desirable town sites and water powers in the proposed new territory, and for the purpose of securing the location of the territorial capital, with the expectation of securing the 107