From the Ipswich Tribune,
Thursday, May 30, 1935 edition
WHITE MAN MAY HAVE LIVED IN STATE IN 1170
Welsh Culture May Have Been Brought to Dakotas 800 Years Ago, Evidence Found
South Dakota may seem considerably removed from Old World culture and background, but along the time that Columbus was picking Florida lemons there were replicas of fortresses and strongholds along the Missouri river similar to those used in the days when Henry the Second was conquering Wales.
Records in the state historical society coupled with claims of ancient earthworks discoveries in the state, go to tell the story.
Picture for yourself villages of light complexioned bearded Indians shooting craps and exclaiming in a Welsh dialected Indian tongue that they had won the pot; imagine these peculiar people living 250 years before the American Revolution, in huge buildings 90 feet in diameter along the Missouri; vision fortresses with high, earthen walls and drawbridges of the King Arthur type in the Dakotas before the pilgrims had set foot on Plymouth Rock.
Absurd? Not so. Earthen remains of semi-European civilization pointing to Welsh origin, reports of Lewis and Clark, the history of Wales, and the background of the Mandan Indians give credence to the belief that a group of Welsh descendants were living in this state while Columbus was busy “discovering” America.
Here is the hypothesis: In 1170 Prince Madoc left Wales with 120 adventurous people and landed, quite by accident, upon an unfamiliar country-America. These people, in order to survive, had to assimilate with the Indians. They may have made friends with the Indians and married some of their women; or they may have fought them with the same results.
Near Yankton, on Bon Homme island, Lewis and Clark found the remains of a European fortress. There 500 acres in a horseshoe peninsula of the river were surrounded by a huge wall, over a mile long in one place with a base of 75 feet and height of from six to twelve feet. A citadel in which they could seek refuge was built and covered escape to the river where they could cross to the island.
A forgotten race may have lived in South Dakota centuries ago.
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