IN the Dakota Atlas of 1886 Townships 130-64 and 130-65 together make the civil Township of Enterprise. Just where this name originated is not told, perhaps for the reason that naming towns does not follow a system.  Later when the Township of Enterprise was divided on lines of the congressional townships the east part was named Albion, but the reason for this name is not stated in the early accounts. The word signifies white or whiteness and is an English name of long standing.

Like other townships of the new region it was located by its boundary lines only and the homesteaders took only squatter's rights at first. The Elm River afforded good drainage and the soil was good. A list of its early settlers gives seventy-seven names as follows;

Like other townships in a new country its people moved around to other locations, but after forty-five years it still has some of the pioneers, and several families of the pioneers are still living on the old homesteads.  Tom Clark was a farmer in Iowa and had a good place there, but Dakota was being advertised big by the railroads and he got the fever of adventure in new lands. He rented his Iowa farm and came up to Dickey County, landing in Ellendale on April 11^th, 1883. He found this a small new town, so with four other Iowa men he went out west of town and located his tract on the northwest of Section 19, 130-64. They had squatted on the land but had gone on with their improvements, and on the 21^st day of November, 1883, the land was placed on the market by the Government, so Mr. Clark took both a tree claim and a preemption.

C. B. Moore, one of the Iowa men, and Mr. Clark were in partnership and had brought quite a lot of supplies, horses, lumber, machinery, and 600 bushels of shelled corn, a part of which they sold to the Dunton brothers in Ellendale. As soon as the group got located they put up their claim shanties and went to breaking. Tom got about fifty acres turned over with one team and a fourteen inch walking plow. He worked at this until the 14^th of June when he put up some hay, and that fall went over to the Dalrymple farms to earn some money in harvest and threshing. On November 14^th he came back with Gallagher and Taeronie whom he located on land near his. He then left these boys in charge and they wintered his stock and hauled out their own lumber while he spent the winter in Iowa getting his affairs there straightened up.

The spring of 1884 was a hard one for Mr. Clark. Hail had destroyed his crop in Iowa and he didn't have much money. He needed some horse feed to get through the spring and as business was done on a cash basis he had to leave his gold watch with one dealer in order to get a couple sacks of horse feed. He was able to redeem the watch with some money he got from Iowa, and later that same year he had to pawn it again to get $13.00 worth of twine. That spring he had to buy seed wheat, but he was quite successful, getting a crop of 12 bushels to the acre of good quality wheat. Mr. Clark was a single man and with his hired man boarded at Piersons. He was busy on his place and helping his neighbors and wintered on his claim in 1884-85.  New adventure had no terror for Mr. Clark, so the first fall after he returned from the Dalrymple farms, he and a Mr. Bishop, in spite of the cold weather took a drive overland to Ft. Yates. They had heard that the Indians had made a killing of buffalo and they wanted to get some robes.  They were two days on the road each way, and did not see a building of any kind on the way except the old stage "half-way house" near Hoskins Lake.and had to camp out near the location of Coldwater on the going trip and at the half-way place returning.   At Ft. Yates they found that the Indians had made a successful hunt and they could buy robes at $5.00 each. Tom bought fifteen robes and Bishop eight.   They baled these up and pushed them across on the ice ahead of them, as the Missouri River was frozen over but was unsafe and they were taking long chances in crossing.  After getting the robes over to the east side they went back to get some supplies and to see Sitting Bull.   They paid an Indian a quarter to show them to Sitting Bull's tent, and the guide got them inside where Sitting Bull was lying on a bunk.  The interior was full of smoke from a fire smoldering under a pot in the center, their eyes were filled and water running from them to ease the smart, when Sitting Bull motioned them to sit down on a little bench which was near the dirt floor and below the worst of the smoke.  He then told them that they were expected to give him a half dollar each as the price of admission, a request with which they complied.  He appeared to be the dirtiest specimen of an Indian in the entire camp, so far as they were able to see.  There were some signs of the Indian occupancy of the country in Albion.  A skeleton was found on Section 17 and also a big dipper.  These were found by the Mellon boys, and Harry Barker found another skeleton further towards the hills.

Everett Gray and his two brothers came from Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the spring of 1882. Everett was not quite of age at the time but wanted to see the world. The Dakota boom was on and he bought a round trip ticket for about $19.00, a rate which applied from Chicago to Fargo. The brothers came down by way of Jamestown and Grand Rapids to Ellendale.  They hired a one-armed man named Schultz and located over in Brown County and put up shanties, hiring John Keogh to build the shanties at $15.00 each.   Mr. Gray went back to Michigan for the winter.   On the return to Ellendale in April, 1883, they found that their claims had been jumped, but not to be defeated Everett took the yoke of oxen and drew the shanties into Ellendale (in the absence of the jumper) and located them on a vacant lot which a brother had bought for that purpose. Fortunately the builder had penciled the name of the owner on the door, so Everett had no trouble in knowing the shanties.  About the first of May, Everett Gray located another claim on the southeast of Section 31, 130-64, and the other boys came out and located, taking some homestead land and trading for some.   They began with squatters rights and drew their shanties out from Ellendale and began improvements.  They had paid the locater $10.00 each for their first locations but located themselves on the Elm River land.  Everett worked in Fargo that summer and wintered in Ellendale working at jobs that could be found.  The brothers got along with one yoke of oxen among them for the first years, and one cow, but as they were able they bought other stock and equipment.

For a time Everett Gray drove the stage from Ellendale to Grand Rapids for Martin & Strane, getting the job to replace a drunken driver.  Although a new business for him he soon learned the job, and was driving when LaMoure was made the northern terminal.

Peter J. Rasmussen was an early settler and lived in the township for many years building up a good farm, but deciding that he would retire from active farming and to give his daughter an education he removed to a lot of ten acres east of Ellendale and built up one of the beauty spots of North Dakota for his home.

F. A. Bobbe came out from Wisconsin in 1883, but located in Mcintosh County with his brother Herman as a neighbor. In 1887 he decided he wanted to live nearer civilization and friends, so he removed to Ellendale and bought out a shop. He had money enough to buy a cow and the man from whom he bought trusted him for the tools. Later he bought a farm in Albion Township and has farmed it by renters or on his own account ever since.

The Heine family has been prominent in the entire history of the township. One of the boys while a student at the Agricultural College wrote a play based on farm life, which was used as the class play in his senior year. He is now manager of a large farm enterprise at Morris, Minnesota, and Emma Zinter, a member of another prominent Albion family is his wife. August Noess was a pioneer and his family has always taken a prominent part in community affairs, and the Noess farm is one of the best in Dickey County. The Ratzlaff family is still represented in the township and the old home is still in the family.

A large number of the people are Lutherans and have maintained an active country church organization of the Missouri Synod.   A good church building was erected on the northwest of Section 25, and the congregation was fortunate in their ministers. One of the ministers who was with them a number of years was also the teacher of the public schools, the Rev. Mr.  Kluender. He was a man of high ideals and the community responded well to his leadership and was very successful in maintaining a high type of community life centering around the church, finding their pleasures and recreation in their own circle.

There has never been a village in the borders of this township, but for some years in its early days there was a post office known as Pierson kept in the Pierson home on the northwest of Section 19. This was supplied from the Lorraine Post office just across the line in Elm Township on the Ellendale and Ashley line. The mail sack was brought up to Pierson daily by Mr.  Gallagher or one of his children. When Forbes was established these post offices were discontinued. The mail for the township is now brought out by rural delivery lines from Ellendale and Forbes.

Attention has been given to good roads although the township is not on the course of Federal or State Highways. There are many good houses, and farm buildings show a pride in appearance and there are many fine homes in this community of progressive farmers.

Fred Zinter Jr. is living on the old family homestead. Near by is the Chris Maack home; also the homes of Henry Schaller, Fred Kalbus, Fred Phelps, Emil Dathe, and Herman Tiegs. All of these old families are now well established, and many are related by marriage among the younger generation, and a real community spirit is shown in the school and church life of the township.

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