Sergeant John R. Rice
In August 1951 Sioux City became embroiled in a bitter controversy that erupted when officials at Memorial Park Cemetery refused to bury Sergeant John R. Rice, a decorated World War II veteran and Korean War casualty, because of his Native American ancestry. The event provoked public outrage both locally and nationally and eventually required the personal intervention of President Harry Truman. The treatment of Rice tarnished Sioux City's reputation with the stigma of racism and left a wound between the city and local Native American groups for the next fifty years. However, it also created the opportunity for reconciliation between the two sides five decades later and the long overdue redemption of Sergeant Rice and his family.
Andrew G. Anderson
Andrew G. Anderson was born in Sweden in 1854. At the age of nineteen he immigrated to the United States and arrived in Sioux City. He was hired to work in a government warehouse. He could speak no English at this time. He soon got a job working on a ferry that carried people across the Missouri River to Nebraska. During this time, it is said that he rescued several people from the waters of the Missouri.
M. G. Clark
One of the most respected and popular educators in Sioux City throughout the years has been M. G. Clark. Doctor Clark served as superintendent of Sioux City Schools for twenty years.
Mel Clark was born in Belleville, NY, in March of 1868. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1898. He served as superintendent of schools in several towns in Illinois before accepting the job in Sioux City. When he took over the schools, the district was in very bad shape. The buildings were old and rundown. Over the years he was able to build new schools and improve the ones the district already had.
Sergeant Charles Floyd
Sergeant Charles Floyd is best known as the only member of the crew to die during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the first United States soldier to die west of the Mississippi. Floyd was born in Kentucky around 1782. In 1803, he joined the Corps of Discovery, the military expedition that would explore the Louisiana Territory.
The night of August 19th 1804, as the explorers reached the area just south of
Sioux City, Floyd became seriously ill with "bilous cholic". Although expedition
leaders did everything they could to help the young soldier, Floyd became
weaker. At the last, he told Captain Clark, I'm going away and I want you to write me a letter. He died sometime after 2:00 in the afternoon on Monday, August 20, 1804.
Joseph Leonais
Joseph Leonais was born in the province of Quebec, Canada in 1818. His parents were French and lived on a small farm. When Joe turned eighteen, he left home and moved to Mackinac Island on Lake Michigan. He got a job as a fur trapper.
Because many people were moving to the area, Joe decided to head west. As Bruguier had also done, Joe got a job working for the American Fur Company. He traveled up the Missouri River to Dakota Territory where he would trap furs all winter. In the spring the company would gather all the trappers' furs together and send them down the Missouri River to St. Louis. Only the most trusted employees were given this job. Joe was one of the men that made this trip many times. The men would float down the Missouri through the plains of Dakota to the tree lined bluffs of Iowa.
William Thompson
"Indians encamped on the Missouri River Bluffs looked up in silence and made no move as they watched a white man of giant stature in his early thirties walk into their midst, rifle in hand.
He was alone and he was angry. The Indians know why, for not long before they had helped themselves to one of the white man's horses. The white man took his horse and stalked out of the camp with complete disregard and disdain for the large group of Indians who watched him closely.
They made no move to halt him, for the man's reputation for toughness, violence and courage had spread through the Indian tribes and they were afraid of him. In fact, there was no one within range of his reputation, white or Indian, who failed to have a healthy respect for him." ( Louise Zerschling, SC Journal 1954)
James Booge
James Booge was born in Vermont in 1833. His family lived for awhile in Canada and then moved to Indiana, where he helped on his father's farm. His education was limited.
Dr. John Cook
Dr. John Cook was born in England. He went to school at Oxford University and was a graduate of the London College of Medicine and Surgery. Before moving to the United States, he served in some of Londons most famous hospitals.
Cook decided to move to the United States. Many of his friends had already made the trip and wrote letters describing this new land. Arriving in Illinois, Cook decided to work as a surveyor for the government. Here he met a young woman who lived in a neighboring settlement and asked her to marry him. The woman had been married before and had a daughter named Henrietta.
Arthur Garretson
Arthur Garretson was a Sioux City banker, businessman and promoter. Born in Ohio on November 7, 1851, he arrived in Sioux City in 1874 at the age of 23. In 1876, he accepted a position as teller at First National Bank. He stayed there until 1880, when he organized the Sioux National Bank and become its cashier.
Rosalie Menard Leonais
Tucked in a pocket of South Ravine Park, a series of steps leads up into the woods. At the end of the trail is the First Bride's Grave.
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