WHEN the Milwaukee Railroad first built into Dickey County, the end of the track was about two and a half miles north of the present city of Ellendale, in Section 26,-130-63, in the present township of Elden, and at that place hundreds of cars of emigrant freight were unloaded, though the town was platted in township 129. The farmers got busy and broke up the prairie, and for several years Elden produced more bushels of grain than any other town in the county.

Its land is very level and fertile, and there is no waste land in its limits.  The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad now crosses the township, running north to Monango and Edgeley, with a flag stop at Duane on the southeast quarter of Section 15, where are located two elevators and a store.  State Highway No. 4, known as the "Sunshine Highway" crosses from north to south, while the township itself has constructed several excellent graded roads, which make it easy for the residents to market their produce and send the children to school.

In 1882, a colony came to the county from Thompson, Illinois, in a special train which arrived on April 17^th. It was the largest solid emigrant train that ever came into Dickey County, and the incoming settlers spread out over several townships, though many took land in 130-63. In the Dakota Atlas of 1886 the name of this new township is indicated as Farmington but when it came to organizing the township the matter of the name was submitted to a vote of the people, and the present name of Elden was chosen by a majority of one vote, as that was the home town in Ontario, from which many had moved.

Among the very first to arrive were Jake Byers and Jim Hodge from Canada, followed in a day or so by George Rose who was in the Illinois group. Mr. Rose secured the north half of Section 8 for his home, which he still owns and farms. He returned to the old home town and married in the fall of 1882, and has raised and educated a family of seven children.  One son was killed in the World War, fighting on the Western Front.  On April 1^st, 1889, a prairie fire swept the town and destroyed all his buildings, tools, stock and household effects, without insurance. Mr. Rose sold a quarter of land for $150 to get a little money to build a small home and buy provisions for the family.

It is a matter of interest that the first farmers' elevator in the county was built at Duane, in Elden Township, It was organized by Frank Letson, Ed. Byers and George Rose, and for over twenty-two years has paid good dividends.

Mr. Rose was one of the surveyors who in 1882 divided the land in the county into regular quarter sections as we know them today. In 1901 he was elected to represent the county in the legislature, was re-elected and held that important office for four successive terms. He was also appointed on the Commission of Appraisers by President Roosevelt, when the Standing Rock Indian Reservation was thrown open to settlement. He is now serving as County Commissioner, (1928) and has his home in Ellendale.

Among those worthy of note are William Wheelihan and Maurice Letson who are living on their fathers' old homesteads, and Lee Byers, Fred Byers and Paul Wedell, all of whom were raised here and are making good in this their home township. Will Townsend now owns the Jake Byers government claim; E. A. Durey is on the John Brown homestead and Jess Grey on the Ben Brown place.

Herman Wedell has built one of the most modern homes on Section 20, and amassed a competence. He is now (1928) the representative of his county in the State Legislature. Among the younger set of farmers is Oscar Anderson, who has a fine stock farm on the southeast quarter of Section 11, and specializes in tame grasses and sheep.

No account of this township would be complete that did not include John Byer and his brother Ed, who came to Dakota Territory with the first wave of settlement. It is generally admitted that the Byer family, or the Byer brothers, have raised and threshed more grain in this county than any other family since white people came in 1882.

The Byers family home was in southern Ontario, and the young people were schoolmates of the four Waite brothers of the Guelph neighborhood, and the three Hodge brothers; also the Wilsons, father and three sons of Silverleaf.

Jake Byers came to Ellendale on April 19^th, 1882, but John did not come until May 22, 1882. The Canadian bunch organized a well-digging outfit, and put down wells for the settlers in Dickey and LaMoure Counties. They did the best of work and guaranteed it.

These boys relate how they made their beds with grass, which they cut along sloughs with their jackknives, and on May 21^st, 1882, it was so cold that meadow-larks froze to death. Breaking was $4.00 per acre, and teams were scarce, so the settlers could only get enough of the prairie broke to start a garden and plant a few potatoes. There was only one stove in the whole bunch,-a small sheet-iron affair, and it was hard-worked to cook the flapjacks and spiced roll for them all. This little stove was carried out from Ellendale by John on his back. That and a frying pan, a few tin dishes and knives, some blankets, a pick, shovels, a rope and a bucket to haul up dirt in the digging of the wells, was all the personal property owned by the boys at that time. Later in the summer they bought two scythes and put up a lot of hay; also they bought enough matched lumber to make a table, and in the fall they built a 12 by 18 sod house with lumber roof.

There is a small old house standing on the Abraham farm, between the cement house and the red barn, that was the original house in which the Widow Bishop lived, at the "end of the track." Some say that this Bishop house was the first frame building in Dickey County; at any rate the little house is a landmark.

The first crop of grain was threshed by a little Case outfit with only a twelve horse power engine, a partnership affair that the Buckley brothers, Frank and Archie had taken in because they had $75.00 in money that was needed to pay freight. The grain was good and the threshing was a successful venture. The farmers boarded the crew, who slept in the straw piles, and the price for threshing was five cents a bushel. Straw was used for fuel for the engine. It was a free burning fuel, but fires started from its use and the Byers lost three threshing rigs through such accidents.

The first school in Elden Township was held in the fall of 1883, with Josie M. Letson (Mrs. J. W. Crabtree) as teacher at a salary of $20.00 per month. There being no school house the daily sessions were held in the house of A. H. Letson, which stood near the site of the school now known as the Letson School. There were six pupils-Martin, Stella, and Celia Vennum, and Anna, Nellie and Celia Robertson. The only equipment furnished was a box of crayons. For a blackboard they used a piece of tar paper tacked across the end of the room, and for seats, bunches of shingles covered with pieces of carpet. The County Superintendent at that time was Guy Lindersmith.

Among the present day farmers of the township are Chris Hanson, Adam Schook and W. E. Hanna on the Sunshine Highway, Len Shannon and Charles Abraham and Maurice Letson, who is living on the old Letson homestead. Herman Gentz is a prosperous farmer in the south part of the town-ship, and R. H. Pomplum has a fine new home in the southwest part of Elden.

Owing to the fertility of the soil and good marketing facilities, Elden will always remain one of the very best towns in the county.

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