The following is from field notes of government surveyors in Griggs County in 1873-1884.
"Township 145 North of Range 61 West of 5th principal meridian, Dakota Territory, Surveyed November 6-10, 1882 by Scott and Sturdivant, Deputy Surveyors. Mentions:
many houses, dry drain, meadow, breaking
The surface of the Township is gently rolling. The soil is a black sandy loam with clay subsoil and gravel on the higher ground. The greater part of the Township is good farming land. All the marshes contain fresh water and good water can be obtained by digging 20 or 25 feet.
There is a heavy growth of grass all over the Township, of good quality for grazing and there is an abundance of good hay in the meadows and low-lands.
About 1/4 of the government lands is occupied by actual settlers. About twenty shacks were marked during the survey.
Probably, the earliest settlers were a group from Ontario that arrived and selected their future homesteads in June 1882.
The earliest organization on record placed the area, now Mabel Township, in 1884 as part of Pleasant View School District. The north half of Helena and Mabel Townships together with Kingsley and Clearfield Townships comprised the school district and also the election precinct with the David Nicoll farm home on Section 6-145-60 the polling place.
The south 1/2 of present Mabel and Helena Townships, together with Bartley and Dover Townships comprised the rest of the election precinct and another school district known as Helena School District. The Peter Fiero farm in Helena Township was the polling place for this area.
This was in Territorial days. The state was admitted to the Union November 2, 1889.
In 1890 Pleasant View School District was still in existence with the school located on the SW quarter of Section 36-14661. Ida Pratt was the teacher and the following eleven students were enrolled:
Maggie Howden, Elsie Lewis, Raymond Lewis, Harry Ames, Eddie Rhodes, Orrin Rhodes, Leland Rhodes, Richard Howden, George Howden, Pearl Painter, and Frank Kingsley.
In July 1895, with a little prodding by the County Commissioners the Townships of the county were organized. On July 9, 1895 Township 145-61 with the name of Kickapoo attached to it by the County Commissioners petitioned for organization. The petition was signed by John S. Byington, Hans O. Lien, R. Bailey and 28 others. At the township meeting held July 27, 1895, at a schoolhouse located on the SE corner of SE quarter of Section 23145-61, the voters of the township voted to name the township.
Mabel in honor of Mabel Nicoll, the first girl born in the Township. She was the daughter of J. L. Nicoll whose homestead was located on NW quarter of Section 4-145-61.
John S. Byington was elected Clerk and held the position continuously until his death in 1942.
The early Township records were lost so there is no accurate information on their proceedings available. However, B. N. Howden was the Township assessor all through the early years until his death in 1933. J. W. Wilsie held the office of Township treasurer during the early years.
The schoolhouse where the original meeting was held was the polling place until about 1914 when it was changed to Sutton.
As far as the Town Boards duties are concerned, the No. 1 problem from the unbroken prairie days to this has been road building.
In the beginning all farmers had the privilege of working out the tax levied against their land for road purposes. The first roadwork consisted of a man and a team of horses with a slip scraper filling in the low spots and putting in culverts made out of 4-2" x 12 " planks. Larger streams were bridged with stone curbed bridges with plank covering varying according to the size of the stream.
About the year 1900, a Fort Wayne Road grader with an eight-foot blade was purchased and put into operation. Eight or ten horses were used to pull this machine. It was a crude affair, but did improve the roads a lot.
In 1918 a second road grader, an Adams Leaning Wheel, was purchased and put into use. This machine was a vast improvement over the older machine as a much higher grade could be built. In addition to the horse hitch, a tractor could also be used to pull this machine. Another grader of this type was purchased in 1920.
The automobile was getting to be the No. 1 mode of transportation at this time and most roads were graded at this time.
Another road improvement was the 4-horse road drag. This smoothed up the grade and kept the ruts out of the road. It also was used to fill in the low places.
The four-horse Fresno scraper came into use. One man and four horses could accomplish as much with this outfit as three men and six horses with the old slip scraper.
After 1910 all culverts used in the Township were made of steel.
In 1912 the Great Northern Railroad was completed and trains put into operation through Sutton, a town located on the SE quarter of Section 4-145-61. This ended the long haul and long hours necessary in grain hauling by horses.
Sutton, in a period of three years, from 1912-1915, grew from nothing to a town with a population of nearly 200. Nearly every kind of business enterprise was represented. In 1914 Mabel Township together with-12 Sections of land in Kingsley Township became a consolidated school district with the school located in Sutton.
A new two-story building was built with four rooms and three years of high school was offered. Beginning in 1930 or 31, a fourth year of high school was taught.
In 1957 this school was destroyed by a tornado. In 1958 a new modern school with eight rooms was built. It was occupied in January 1959.
In the school year 1960-61, the Sutton and Glenfield school districts merged, grades 1-6 remained in Sutton and grades 7-12 moved to Glenfield. This plan is still in effect.
Their were five homesteaders listed in the assessor's report in 1884 as landowners. They were:
William Wilson (NE-2), H. Lien (SW-20), Andrew Anderson (SE-26), Jim McGregor (NW 30), Iver Eimon (SW-34). The following is a partial list of original homesteaders that I was able to verify in the Griggs County courthouse:
George Hartman (SE-2), Eliza Nicoll (SW-2), William Wilson (NE-2), Robert Starr (NE-4), Jacob Westerhausen (SE-4), John Nicoll (NW-4), John W. Wilsie (NE-6), William R. Dasch (SE-6), William Green (NW-6), Oscar O. Kjelson (NW-8), Pitter A. Kjelson (SE-8), Swan C. Swanson (SW-8), Lyman W. Lewis (NE-10), Wallace H. Percy (NW-10), Mathias Thiel (SE-10), Benjamin A. Witham (NE-12), Robert Bailey (NW-12), Alfred E. Thomas (NW-14), John Riber (SW-14), Henry C. Ames (NE-14), Albert E. Thomas (SE-14). Christian Kjelson (NE-18), Anthony C. Kjelson (SW-18), Alfred A. Olson (NW-20), Hans Olson Lien (SW-20), Ole P. Fiering (NW-22), Harry Ames (NW-24), John S. Byington (NE-24), Adolphus G. Lindsey (SE-24), Varnum VanVleet (SW-24), Christian Erlandson (NW-26), Christian Jacobson (SW-26), Andrew Anderson (SE-26), Andrew F. Anderson (NE-28), Solfest Fortney (SE-28), Otto A. Thorsgaard (NW-30), Bernt A. Thorsgaard (SE-30), Edward A. Thorsgaard (NW-32), and Beathe Eimoen (NW-34).
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 351