A tattered mansion on 8th Street in Fargo, which still stands today, was once the home of U.S. Senator Porter J. McCumber of Wahpeton. Five blocks north of the old silk-stocking block is the Wahpeton Indian School, now known as the Circle of Nations.
On this date in 1904, a bill introduced by Senator McCumber passed the House. According to a Fargo paper, 'An old sore in North Dakota’s side will be healed when the Turtle Mountain Indians accept an appropriation of $1,000,000, included in the Indian appropriation bill, in payment for land taken by whites. An additional $100,000 is allocated for an Indian agricultural school at Wahpeton. These funds are on top of money provided for the maintenance and improvement of other Indian schools in North Dakota.'
Another paper noted the appropriation 'is much cause for rejoicing among the people of that town, and Senator McCumber will be hugged and kissed almost to death when he arrives home from Washington. The school will be as big a thing for Wahpeton as McCumber is for the state.'
For the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, however, the school was a poor trade for their lands. The 1892 McCumber Agreement, or 'Ten-Cent Treaty,' was signed under extreme duress. Their attorney, J.B. Bottineau (son of famed surveyor and town founder Pierre Bottineau), was not allowed in the proceedings. Starvation, epidemics, and poverty on the reservation ensured a steady enrollment of Turtle Mountain students at Indian boarding schools. In 1909, it was reported that several hundred Turtle Mountain students would be transferred from the Morris, Minnesota school to Wahpeton.
The experiences of students at Indian boarding schools varied. Some enjoyed the opportunity, while others didn’t want to be there at all. Like other government schools, Wahpeton operated with military discipline and terminology. Farming, trade skills, and home economics were the main focus, but students also participated in musical instruction, marching bands, athletics, dance, drama, oratory, pageants, and other community activities. The school’s dairy farm was well-known, though it ended after WWII. School lands were later acquired by local educational entities and athletic facilities after the farm program ended.
In 1982, North Dakota’s congressional delegation, with the support of community leaders, school officials, and alumni, successfully opposed the school’s closure under the Reagan administration. In 1992, the school transferred to tribal control, chartered by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate.
Dakota Datebook written by Lise Erdrich
SOURCES:
- Ahern, Wilbert H. (1984). "Indian Education and Bureaucracy: The School at Morris, 1887-1909" (PDF). Minnesota History: 82–98.
- Elders Interviews: Bert Ahern, Metha Bercier, Joyce Burr, Ralph Erdrich, Rita Erdrich, Pat Gourneau, Samson Hill, August Little Soldier, John Milk, Marie Nanapush, Arnold Pankow, Keith Sumner, Jenny Wanna, Elma Wilkie, Felix Youngbird. Lise Erdrich, 1987-2024.
- WAHPETON GETS INDIAN STUDENTS. The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, January 7, 1909, Page 1.
- N.D. INDIANS AND THE WAHPETON SCHOOL. The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, 1904, Page 9.
- Editorial. The Wahpeton Gazette, March 13, 1903.
- Editorial. The Wahpeton Gazette, April 6, 1903.
- MY STORY BY SAM HILL. Wahpeton Indian School Alumnus Autobiography, 2002.
- A Story of Pat Gourneau. Patrick "Au-Nish-e-Nau-Bay" Gourneau, 1971.
- Essie's Story: The Life and Legacy of a Shoshone Teacher. University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
- Porter J, McCumber, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_J._McCumber
- Closing of Off-Reservation Boarding Schools. Hearing before the Select Committe on Indian Affairs. United States Senate, Ninety-Seventh Congress, Second Session, on the Bureau of Indian Affairs Proposal to Close Three Off-Reservation Boarding Schools (February 24, 1982).
