The Turgeon Well - Charles Mix county

One of the oldest man-made features in Charles Mix County, South Dakota, is the artesian well constructed by the Turgeon Brothers.  Onesime Turgeon was one of the first farmers in South Dakota to irrigate his crops with an artesian well.  It cost $2000 to build this well and, according to Turgeon lore, paid for itself in the first year.

Onesime Turgeon is shown in the middle of this picture sitting atop his 8 inch well pipe.  Other Turgeon relatives are seated with him.  Date of this picture is unknown; however, note the gushing water coming out of the pipe.  The following article appeared in the Sioux City Journal dated September 12,  1895.

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The following news articles describe the Turgeon well.  It cost $2000 to build but by all accounts it was a booming success. 

Almost 10 years later, Onesime Turgeon found other uses for his well - furnishing power for his saw mill and corn shredder.  Later he managed to use the well power for threshing his crops.

The images below show another artesian well gushing near Lake Andes, Charles Mix County, South Dakota.  Charles Mix County is highlighted ‘red’ in the following South Dakota map.

1885 Dakota Territory Census - Turgeon

The Turgeon boys were early pioneers in Dakota Territory.  The French Canadians who moved to Dakota Territory lived in their own French speaking communities.  In fact, Louis Turgeon’s wife never learned English.  The 1885 census results show some inaccuracies which may be due to a language barrier.

The following census record shows two Turgeon families living in Charles Mix County - Abraham and Louis Turgeon.  Although age information is not always correct on this record, it does show correct names for spouses and children.

The following census record shows family information for Phileas and Onesime Turgeon; however, one look at this record shows it totally inaccurate.

  
Although Phileas and Onesime Turgeon were living in Charles Mix County during this time period, none of their spouse or children information is correct.  Was this record  fabricated and submitted in haste?

Party Marks 100th Birthday
French-Canadian 13 Years in City

By HERB PENNY
Staff Writer, The Oregonian

“This was the greatest pleasure of my life,” said Mme. Marguerite Trahan Turgeon, 2013 S. E. 9th avenue, Thursday after a celebration of her 100th birthday at her home.  The party was attended by many relatives and friends, many of whom she had not seen for years. 

Mme. Turgeon, a lace-capped French-Canadian woman, who has lived in Portland for 13 years, but speaks only French, sat in a comfortable old chair attended by her two daughters, Regina and Lucina Turgeon, while her birthday was celebrated.

She was born June 22, 1849, in St. Lazaire, Quebec, and later moved to the town of Beaumont in the same province.  Both communities were French-speaking and when she moved in 1887 to South Dakota and married Lewis Turgeon they lived on an isolated farm with the nearest neighbors two miles away.

Portland Weather Annoys

The old lady said she had a love for Portland as, in contrast to South Dakota, “it’s closer to nearly everything,” but in recent months she has been bothered by the weather.  “It is always changing,” she remarked.

Until last October she attended mass daily, tended her garden and worked in the house, washing dishes and doing other chores.  “But now I can barely tell black from white and it was cold, so cold, in the winter,” the old lady said.

She has four daughters, Regina and Lucina and Mrs. Honore Labrecque and Mrs. Rene Lulewicz, of South Dakota; six living grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  In honor of her birthday Wednesday, mass was celebrated by Rev. Edward O’Hern and she received the congratulations of the vicar-general, the Very Rev. Thomas Tobin.

Early Home Isolated

In South Dakota she lived in a French-speaking district, but the isolation of the farm gave little contact with the outside.  “They had lots of trouble with the Indians in the early years,” her daughter Regina said.

Mme Turgeon now can hear in only one ear and her sight is impaired, but her wit is very keen.  “It seems that each day I see less and less, but then, I don’t have to see very far these days.”

But one great sorrow now is that she can no longer work in her garden, where “I used to get right down and dig.  Here are so many beautiful flowers in Portland,” she said.

Quebec Revisited

While in South Dakota she made five trips back to Quebec to visit relatives, but since she came to Portland in 1936 she has made no trips east.

“If I’d known I was going to live in Portland, I would have learned English, as very few people here speak French - just my daughters,” Mme. Turgeon remarked.

And then she added, when the celebration was coming to a close, “Ah, my head is hot,” and she removed her lace cap and fanned her white hair.

“I’m so happy to see my children and their children,” she murmured.