Rock Township, Benson County, North Dakota

Rock Township is a civil township in Benson County, North Dakota, United States. As of the 2000 census, its population was 39.GeographyRock Township is located at in public land survey Township 151N, Range 66W. It is almost entirely within the boundaries of the Spirit Lake Reservation. and has one of the lower population densities in Benson County, with 1.1 people per square mile. The Sheyenne River traverses the southern part of the township.HistoryHomesteading in Rock Township began in the early 1880s, even though the Indian reservation did not official open to settlers in 1904. James McLaughlin, who had been the chief Indian agent at the local Bureau of Indian Affairs agency on the reservation, reached an agreement with the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe which permitted settlement by non-tribal members. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed homesteading the area officially open on June 2, 1904.By 1905 there were so many children that a school had to be built, and Plainview School District Number 31 was established that October. In 1910 township residents petitioned the county to allow them to formally organize a civil township with the name Plainview. However, there already existed a Plainview Township in Stutsman County, so the name Rock Township was adopted.