Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-06-10
[Ed,torlal Correspondence j

collins f0EUOn0k NOStco0s
Editorial Correspondence
BIsNARcK, June 4, 1879.
1t Ia the common experience of travellers
visiting this spot to feel a sense OF disap'
pointment on finding Bismarck NO larger
ID houses and population than 1t Is. 80
l.much has been written and printed and
1said about the Missouri river terminus OF
the Northorn Pacific railroad that people
rather expect to here find q city of consid-
cradle dimensions. Though this expecta'
ton Is not realized, the traveller Is made
aware. very soon after taking in the sur
I~reundings, that Bismarck contains . great
deal more to the square inch than most
cities of large pretentions. Numbers are
nothing to the ~Bismarckian. l asked one
of them what was the population OF the
city. He seemed meyer to have thought OF
that item of Bismarck's history before. He
answered, "well. l suppose about q thous-
and or twenty-five hundred. or may be
more, or less" Another said he thought
there might be twelve hundred. A third
didn't know anything about it-sometimes
it was more and sometimes It was less.
The vote on election days usually counted
up to about the required majority and then
stopped-they got all they wanted and what
vas the use Of getting any more! This is
the philosophical argument which greets
the enquirer at every turn and there's nc
use going beyond it. Results are the thing
aimed at and they are always attained. In
B,smarck. The city is located about a
mile and . half from the steamboat landing.
1t sits upon the open prairie, its site an
elevated plateau which commands q view
Of the Missouri river. Above it, five miles
away, rise the heights Of Fort Abraham
Lincoln, its little village of white buildings
glistening ia the morning, MONDAY and at.
ternoon sunlight marked feature of the
beautiful surroundings. This is the home
Of the historic seventh cavalry, a regimen,
which has given it's best lives and sacri.
feed its choicest heroes upon the altar Of
western progress. Custer and his gallant
men laid down in their own life blood upon
the field of their Immortality. Their bones
are now guarded, upon the spot where they
became insnimate, by the settlers who are
there because Custer died. His was the
last conflict between barbarism and civil.
cation. Barbarism gained Its feeting vic
tory, but civilization has advanced in its
wake and has already pcopled the field OF
horror and the region between here and
there. One can now travel from Bismarck
to the Little Big Horn and 6ud a friendly
roof as q shelter for the night of every Say
Of his journey.
Bismarck Is the biggest little town in all
the world. It is metropolitan in its habits
end its people live in the glamour ofci.y sur.
roundings. far away upon the green prairies
Of undeveloped Dakota. The nucleus OF
its existence and its progress are its North.
ern Pacific railroad, its Missouri and Vel
lowstone river steamboat business and it.
Sheridan hotel. Round about these tire,
enterprises cluster the whole business sys
TEN, and without them Bismarck would b,
as common q place as any other settlement
upon the prairie. But with them it is
community of Distinctions live people
full of business, full Of enterprise, full c
that certainty in the future which is of 1t
self q whining element of success. Th
virgin prairies about are being occupied b
producers-slowly in the past, but mo-
. rapidly in the present. Farms varying
q size from 100 acres to GO, 1000 acres are b
" ing opened up, and as the sol! is full of pr
ductiveness, the result can be nothing she
q of large profits to its tillers. Thus far B
8 marck has depended solely upon Its raj
e road and river business for its prospect,
, but in the years of its future agricultu
will become an important element of
progress. The Northern Pacific railroad
le moving n With its extension will 60
" the Yellowstone traffic. Deprived OF III
Its dormant u will spring into {
IN tivity and as they are needed they will
utilized. With its start as q favorite (rt
10 tier trading point, Bismarck will crystal
into q solid western city and will becoI
es one of the leading business points of the
ne gion 10 which it now occupies q promin,
be place.
he Our first day here was Sunday. Th
en- was apparent upon the surface lone of t
liz 60 10 church and be good style which ct
r. acterizes our puritanical YanKton. M
business establishments were open and ]
marck's one street of stores was swarm
with all sorts of people. 1t wasa day
he rest. the same which the Lord had halo,
to - the signal of His creative triumph,
ide those who make their money hereab,
the we're not at work. They were in t,
ted spending it. There was no rioting, no
tlrbance. All was harmony, in a 70