Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-03-09

ried bodily into the house, the whole
crowd bursting in after us, with a whoop
and hurrah. 1 unlocked the mail sack and
emptied its contents on my dining table.
There were only a few dozen letters, not
to go around among all that crowd.
Each nan helped himself unceremoniously
to his own seeming to know by instinct
just which letter was his. Those who got /
lettersl snatched them UP with exclama-
tons Of delight and some shed tears Of Joy.
Those who got none were c~orrespondingly
depressed, and a number came back after
ward, to be assured once more that there
really was no letter for them. They had
been $50 sure of hearing from home that
time" After that we had a room fitted up
specially for the postofice, and when the
next mail arrived, there were boxes and
pigeon holes all ready to receive it, and l
handed out the letters myself to the i'm
patient crowd. E. N. Holway made the
boxes, II Thomas Richards, j.. D. En-
mons barkeeper, made me a nice office
desk. The material from which all were
made was dry goods boxes, no other lum-
Der but green cottonwood being then oD-
tainable.
l had written at the outset to the post
office department at Washington for the
supply OF blanks, envelopes and postage
stamps necessary to properly conduct the
office. This letter was returned to me
with the curt Endorsement Of the assistant
postmaster general, that my requistion for
supplies was not made out on the forms pre-
scribed by the postoffice department, and
could hot be filled until made out on the
proper blank. had then to send to Post
master Douglas of Moorhead, for som
blanks, and the supplies were sent as soon
asilt was received in Washington including
of course, the requisstion blanks, which it
would have been so easy for the depart
ment to have sent me at first. This, of
course, took several weeks, and thus there
were no postage stamps for sale in the Ed
winton postofice for the first month of its
existence. The name of the town was
soon after changed to Bismarck. in honor
OF Baron Won Bismarck, the prince premier
OF the German empire, and at my request
the name of the postofice was changed
also. Most,o Of the letters that came there
was addressed simply to "The Crossing,
n. PR r. on Missouri river"
Time passed on, the population of the
town increased and business prospered.
The citizens then employed a man named
Stlckney to carry the mail to the end of
the track, paying him fifty dollars per
month for weekly trips. His wife kept a
restaurant in a tent on upper Main street.
Nearly every family in the town kept
boarders. MI. Thomas MCGOWAN now of
the Custer Hotel, kept the Dakota House
and later the Miners Hotel on Main street.
MI. Nicholas Comerford assisted by his
sisters, all bright M agreeable young
ladies kept an eating house in the same
block, and MI. Dan Eisenberg had a large
store two lots west of the Northern Paci-
nc WAREHOUSE. At this time new people
were arriving daily and new business
houses were being opened on all sides.
There were some five hundred people here
when spring opened.
All the timber for building then was
found along the river bank south of town,
and consisted Of scraggy cottonwood trees,
and willow underbrush. 1t was all on
claims held by men, who believed they
were living on government land and could
not legally cut the timber-and who would
have had recourse to their siotguns had
any one else attempted to cut it. To trans
port a load OF lumber from Duluth, the
nearest market, would have cost a fortune.
For the same reason wood was scare and
dear. Ignite had not then been mined,
and the wood was brought in by wood
choppers-alon2 the river northwest of the
city. It was usual green cottonwood
and no one who has not attempted to keep
warm by a fire made of the soggy, Juicy
stuff, can conceive of the suffering of the
pioneers who had nothing else to burn, or,
OF the trials to patience of the poor women
who had to cook by it. Yet it could not be
bought for less than five dollars per cord,
and when the market was poorly supplied
a load would cost seven dollars. A load Of
ash wood could occasionally be gotten at
the rate OF ten dOllars per cord and by
judiciously combininga it with the cotton
wood a fair fire could be maintained.
The boards made from cottonwood trees
soon warped and became crooked. If left
lying IN the sun they assumed all sorts of
fantastic shapes. "A house built of the un-
seasoned lumber soon warped and the
snails were pulled out, so that it was soon
! necessary to board over the cracks caused
by the shrinkage.
In 1872, Prescott and BLY, started a saw
mill at the mouth of Apple Tree creek
seven miles south Of town and furnished
all the boards that, were used for building.
Previous to this all the houses had been
made Of rough cottonwood logs.
These log houses or 'sshacks0 as thew
were called, were built usually Of unhewn
logs, the interstices between the logs being
filled up or "chinked" with small billets of
wood, and thickly daubed oh both sides
with q mixture of soil mixed with water.
These formed the walls. 1t was first up
as a pen. but afterward. by saving ont
portions of the logs, openings Of the proper
size and shape were made for windows
aud doors. Over the top and across the
center was placed the ridge pole, running
from end to end Of building and the space
on each side Of tile rid9prtle was covered
with Ia VoI g nf small Snijti s1nrs ~ ,oloe