Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-08-22

1NOkhNk vi nuu = i llAu SGICCUs uuO
which NOW stands on Justice Bragg's lol
on East Main street.
My first investment was to purchase the
Anthony house, log building on the
corner of Main as Second street, and tt
erect the building next door, now West
hauser's, for a government warehouse
The rent of the latter building soon paiG
for itself; | also built a large store build
ing on Third street, on the lot between
Fairchild's and DR.. Ben:ly's, and after
wards moved it to its present location or
the corner of Main and Second. These
two buildings do not make much of a show
now, but they were palatial then, and il
took money to build then. Also, whe1
the Congregationalists abandoned
their mission here, I bought
their church building. whichs stood on The
southeast corner of the courthouse square
But a fire broke out on Main street and ]
sold it to DR.. Dunn, to replace his drug
store. It is now used by John Yegen as q
crockery store.
l was postmaster of Edwinton, and was
elected coroner Of Burleigh county in 1878
an office | held for six years. l was elect
ed to the territorial legislature in 1874, and
got my certificate of election, but the
''other fellow" was a better politician and
got the seat. I was president of the Bur
leigh County Pioneers, a society formed to
induce immigration.
After a while W. wanted a home out of
town, as my wife wished to bring up the
children in the country. Moreover, she
had a perfect passion for trees and flow
ers, and believed that she could cultivate a
garden herself if she only had a chance to
try. SO l bought out the improvements of
George Rankin on the southwest quarter
Of section 20, township 139, range 50, pay
ing $400 for his REIMBURSEMENT, and filed
my soldiers declaratory statement there
on on Oct. Is, 1873. Rankin had a com
Portable log house and several acres OF
breaking enclosed with a pole fence, and
had some corn and potatoes in crop, We
went out end took possession as happy as
two children with a new toy, But the co.'s
weather came or soon, and it was too
SO we came into town for the
winter. Next year the log house
was 'rustled" and before long the pole
fence disappeared. We never found out
who took the house, but we knew all the
time who was "rustling"' the fence. He
freeze to death, SO we let 1t go and said
nothing. But 1 had to build again before
l could prove up, and l bought a log house
that stood under the hill, where the brew
cry now is. l bought it of the partner of
the man who owned it, and who had been
frozen to death near where Oscar Ward
now lives. Rock Gopher and Charles
ANSAAA4S WIN ~ NV WV lAoICo liz lOSS
out and rebuilt it on the claim. Mrs.
Slaughter was very fond of being out there
with the children and she had a flower
garden with a lilac tree and some rose
bushes-the first in the country-but after
Franklin Wright was murdered there by
the Indians l did not think it safe for them
to stay there, and before l could rebuild
the claim jumper got in his work, and
Sherwood, a sergeant at the Bismarck sig
nal station, eventually got the claim. But
we meant to have a country home all the
same. John w. Plummer had pre.empted
eighty acres in southwest quarter, section
80, township l39, range 80. L had loaned
security, and afterwards l was glad to &C.
cept in payment five acres of the same at
$50 per acre. I afterwards exchanged the
| Westminster property on Main street for
five acres more. This we christened
'Villula." | had the ground broken and
cultivated it for a number of years.
and lived there in the summer cottage.
trees and shrubs, which were readily de-
voured by the COWS of Bismarck. In 1880,
l sold the Main and Second street barn for
$1,500 to Pat Leo, and built the large house
and villa adjoining the Plummer cottage,
furnished it nicely, sent east for my IL
brary, and had at last a really elegant
country home. But the following year a
commercial traveller was taken i'll with the
small pOX at the Sheridan house, and none
OF our Indian alarms in the early days
occaSiOned half the panic that enSued.
The people were for hustling the unfortu-
nate man out of town at once, and a
tumbled down claim shack in the country
was the only place of shelter to be found
for him. l protested against the inhu-
mainly of such a cause, and at last arrang-
I'd with the city authorities to removed the
furniture from one room in my house at
Villula, which they could fix up for the re-
ception of the sick mar and his wife. [
had my office on Fourth street then, and
my wife was teaching the high school, op-
town through the week n went home on
Saturdays. So, had the authorities be
calm, the arrangement could have been car
ried out without loss to us and credit TO
them. But excitement ruled the hour, and
at the first word Of consent they rushed
the sick man installed before 1
knew they had started. Then the patients
wife was not allowed to stay with him.
Several nurses were hired and a man
under indictment for a criminal 'offense in
the city Jail was pardoned and sent out
there to take charge. OF course the de.
struction was complete. Not even a
change of clothing was left us, and after
the mans death-when the city abandoned
it as abruptly as they had taken possession
I found little left of my home but the foul
square walls-a remarkable conversion OF
private property.to public use, for which
the city government has not to this day
paid us so much as the courtesy of thanks
Of course under such management the
smallpox soon became epidemic, and we
leased the building to the county commits
sioners as a hospital for that disease fol-
six months. The commissioners were
honorable men and took care Of the prop
erty, but this use of it almost wholly de
stroyed its value, either for sale or as q
residence. But in l883-the "boom year,
we joined with Whitley & Co. in plating
Prospect Place addition. and sold lots
25xl5O feet for $500 and $500 apiece.
In 1886 l pre.empted 80 acres on the
northeast quarter OF section "a, township
lao, and founded the Wales postofice eight
miles north of Bismarck. My improve
ments cost me $500 and j paid the govern,
ment $500 besides. You can buy LAND
cheaper than you can pre-empt it. DOM
forget that. / hadfa nice frame house or
this land. but it was, ".rnstled'' while l was
at the soldiers home, andl was thankful
they left the we'll and the sod barn. ]
have the finest piece Of millet on this lanG
that [ have seen this year and a nice tfelC
of oats and a good garden.
1t is a singular fact that the people WHIT
brought money to Bismarck in the early
days lost It or were unsuccessful, while