Today in History: June 6, 1992 - Tokio, ND, residents believe government let them down

Today in History revisits the June 6, 1992 edition of the Grand Forks Herald and highlights a story from Tokio, N.D. Residents of Tokio, N.D., a small reservation town, expressed deep frustration with government inaction, broken promises, and inadequate support. Once a thriving railroad hub, the town now has just one business and limited opportunities. Locals criticize welfare dependency, lack of youth programs, and poor housing maintenance. Many feel neglected and politically unheard, caught in a cycle of poverty and disrepair. The town's history and name reflect a broader disconnect between Native communities and outside systems of power and governance.

By Tony Lone Fight
Herald Staff Writer

TOKIO, N.D. (June 6, 1992) - Agatha Peoples, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux who has lived on the Fort Totten reservation most of her life, says politicians “make a lot of promises to help out the Indian, but end up doing nothing.”

She said assistance she gets from the government is not nearly enough to make ends meet.

Larry Thile, 30, said general assistance is “killing off our people.” He said people are just sitting around waiting for a check.

He supports programs that put able-bodied people to work or in school when they receive some kind of government assistance.

Both these people live in the relative political backwater of a small reservation town in North Dakota, where the name “Tokio” itself illustrates the gulf of understanding between Indians and whites.

To’-kiah literally means “somewhere” in the Dakota language. Tokio is a poor transliteration, said Earl Bullhead, cultural director at Fort Totten elementary school.
Origins of North Dakota Names and Places states Tokio comes from To-Ki, “the Indian word meaning gracious gift,” and was taken by the Great Northern Railway as a name for the town — the namers just added an “O.”

Whatever the origin of the name, Tokio became official in 1906. It had a bank, two potato houses, three grain elevators and a train depot.
The bank closed in the 1920s and slowly the elevators were sold, went bankrupt or their owners died. The last elevator closed in 1966. After that, the railroad stopped coming, too.

The only business left in town is the Tokio Grocery Store.

Wilfred Peoples, 54, said nobody works around here. Farm jobs were plentiful when he was young. As a young man, he helped pick rocks, plant and bail. Now he stays home and takes care of his wife, Agatha.

She is disabled and she receives about $400 a month. She said much of her money goes to bills and another $50 to travel to and from medical appointments. This leaves her about $80 a month for groceries. If anything goes wrong with her house, she has to pay for that too.

Robert Hulst, owner of Sioux-per Video in Fort Totten, said social programs have been the death of the reservation. He said more economic growth is needed in Indian Country, not handouts, “keeping the people in poverty.”

Maryann Blueshield, 21, said she has waited for four years for the garage and screen door to be fixed on her government housing. She eventually nailed up the screen door herself; the garage is still unfixed.

Beyond a place to live and work, another problem in Tokio is finding things for the children to do, said several Tokio residents.

Beradine Mindt, 25, said youths need a place to play and activities to be involved in “so they won’t get in trouble.” She said sometimes church groups come to Tokio and work with the youth, but that’s only temporary.

Berta DeMarce, 80, who has lived in Tokio all her life, said that when it comes to politics, “there’s too much bosses.”

“Everybody wants to be the chief and nobody wants to work,” she said.

Sen. Quentin Burdick once wrote to her: “He helped us out a lot,” she said. But she was most concerned about planting her garden that day, not about the politics of the nation.

She probably has a lot of company.