The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1903-04-24
BIG FORTUNES IN SOUTH DAKOTA
The State Has Five Mi'lionaires and Dozens in the
Six Figure Class-A'l Except Pettigrew Real
lied on Cattle and Acres.

Tho buffalo grass OF government
land in South Dakota and artesian
ellis in the farming country Of the
eastern part Of the state have made
Ave %millionaires and a score worth
from s25o,OOO to $1,000, 900 within a
score of years.
EVERY one of the great fortunes Of
couth Dakota belongs to farmers.
with but one exception the five mil
,ionaires came to the state with no
%oonital. Three of these turned cattle
out on the ranges and realized from Is
IN 80 per cen annually OF their in
vestment. The other two bought
great quantities of cheap land, and
uhen the artesian wells were struck
they found themselves m%illionaires.
Fortunes that have been made in
this state from cattle and land follow:
Harris Franklin, Deadwood.. SO ,0O0, 900
+ D. Smith, Madison........ 10000 600
Y %Avergaard, Turner county. 1000, 600
Eugene Holcomb, Rapid City. /, 900, 900
Corbin Morris, Rapid City,. 100000
G. w. Hye, Pierre.......... 100000
NJ. D. Thompson, Vermillion. 100000
d M. Inman, Vermillion.. ... 100000
A r. Lee. Vermillion. ...... 800, 900
Mr. Prentiss, Vermillion.. 700,0 900
There is but n mar in the state
who has made himself wealthy with
out taking profits from cattle and
land. and that is Frank Pettigrew of
Sioux Falls, former United States SEN
ator, who accumulated about a million
nv dealing in Sioux Falls real estate,
only to lose it all in the panic of the
~nineties. Since then he has dealt in
railroad stocks and mining properties,
and again his wealth is numbered by
six figures.
Franklin the Richest Man.
Harris Franklin OF Deadwood, rec
ognized as the richest man in the
state, drove into Deadwood in 1876
with an OK team drawing a cart con-
tanning a barrel of whisky. This was
his sole capital. He engaged for a
short time in the liquor business, but
soon went out of that to organize Cne
Harris Franklin Cattle company. He
had gone east from DeadwOOd and
found countless acres covered with d
thick growth of buffalo grass. He
found this grass cured early and re-
tanned nearly all its nutriment, SO
that cattle could feed on it throughout
the winter. This was government
land and he knew it could be pastured
with little or no charge for the land.
He started with a small herd, and he
has %prospered so steadily that now,
after paying from 20 to 20 per cent a
year upon the stock of the Harris
franklin Cattle company, he owns be-
tween $4,000 and 5000 head branded
in the name of his company.
He is president of the Golden Re-
ward Mining company, one Of the
largest stockholders in the American
National bank of DeadwOod, and pres
ident of the First National bank of the
same town. His mining properties did
not begin paying him dividends until
1897, so it is evident that he has made
the fortune estimated at from $1,000
900 to $4,000, 900 almost entirely out
OF the cattle business.
Bought Cheap Land.
Next to him in point of wealth is
probably l. q. Smith Of Madison. He
came to this state from Iowa with
about $4,000. For fifteen years he has
been buying land in the eastern part
OF the state. He sold only what was
necessary for his expenses, holding the
rest for advances. Land that seemed
altogether unpromisirg when he began
buying has become richly fruitful. SO
1t happens that Mr.. Smiths wealth IS
estimated by bankers at from $780,
goo to 81, 600, 900.