The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1904-12-17
How Bismarck Backed Out.

the Bismarck, Washburn & Ft.
Buford Ry., the Bismarck papers
uses to tell us of the public meet
ings that were being held there;
of the active committees that went
to work; of the money that was be-
ing raised, and the prodigious en-
terprise that was being manifested
by the people across the river.
The fact is that the capital city had
become somewhat moribund, Side
walks were decayed; streets were
neglected; there were no building
operations, except those that were
undertaken after the fire in the late
summer of 1898. It was so long
since new house had been built,
that when Bismarker wanted to
see what such an operation was
like, he had to come across to Man
dan to witness it. General Wash
burn came on the ground, and the
citizens began to get busy. A block
of land was bought for the railroad
headquarters building and strip
of land from Bismarck to the south
line Of Mclean county was pro-
cured. Some of it was donated to
the road, some of it was bought at
terms to suit the purchaser, and 16
suits were tried by juries. and the
damages assessed that were paid
for the land. Tt went forth to the
world that Bismarck g citizens were
doing all this, and with free and
generous hand were turning over
to the rich man from Minneapolis
their land and money as a free gift
for the privilege of hearing the
toot of the locomstive whistle other
than that of the old reliable North
ern Pacific.
While all of these proceedings
were going on in the capital city,
little knots Of people would FORE
gather in the Office Of the Pioneer,
or some. other place where suoh
matters are frequently discussed,
and would com nent on the free
and open hand with which our Bis
marck neighbors do things. Our
neighbors across the river on hear
ing that a railway was wanted sally
down the street with a subscription
paper and get few thousand dol
lars subscribed as easily as the
Mandan people would procure a
few dollars. What time We would
have in the semi-arid belt if other
towns would do as Bismarck does,
a disconsolate mortal would venture
to assert. The Tribune, as the orig
inal purveyor of inside news, would
give it out. We would be told how
the citizens were hiring attorneys,
paying Judgments, buying termin-
ais, and doing things about as Car
nagies or Rockefellers would do.
We would stand by, believing i'm
plicitly the newspaper stories with
open eyed wonder, and long for that
happy day when Aandan people
would thus give of their abundance
and their poverty even for public
enterprise,
But recent court proceedings
have demonstrated that things are
not what they seem-in Bismarck.
In law suit just tried, the ener-
getic and able attorneys whopushed
through the many suits of condem-
nation, have sued Gen. Washburn
for 81, 800 in fees. incidentally we
may remark that the jury awarded
them 81, 100 and interest; but that
is not to the point. The sworn
testimony adduced in this trial
from parties who know absolutely
what they are talking about shows
that instead of tens of thousands
of dollars having been subscribed
for this railroad enterprise, only
beggardly $9l2.50 was ever sub
scribed; that instead of the citizens
giving the terminals and the right
of way as the world was given to
understand, they gave great deal
of wind and just 1912. so in money.