The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-11-18
Battle Royal Waged Between
Pierre and Mitchell.
Residents of State Were Given
Free Rides on Trains.
Everybody Took Advantage Of
liberaIity Of Companies.
Especial to The Free Press

Especial to The free tTeSS.J
Some visitors to Mankato from South
Dakota talk very interestingly of the
great fight that has been waged there
over the location of the state capitol.
Pierre, the present capitol, and Mitchell
have been at it tooth and nail to Sc
cure this prize. Pierre has won out
and the state functionaries will con.
tinue to make their headquarters there.
Such is the will of the people as declared
at Tuesdays election.
Pierre is on the Cicago & Northwest
ern railroad and Mitchell is on the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & st. Paul. The fight
for the capitol developed into fight
between these two railroad companies.
For the past two weeks and more any
body and everybody, who was voter,
got passes from both companies from
any part of the state to look at one or
the other of the candidate cities. During
the last ten days before election, nearly
every train on these lines was a dou
bic header and many of them consist
ed of two or three sectihons. Yet the
conductors would collect scarcely a sim
gle paid passage on any train. ex-
cept from passengers who lived outside
of the state The railroad companies
even went. so far as to allow the voters
to take their wives along without charge.
The two cities fairly outdid themselves
to show everybody good time. The best
hotels boarded strangers at one dollar
per day. Many of the public amusements
were absolutely free. The commercial
bodies at both places were indeed busy.
People took advantage of the free
pass ammunition, with which the roads
fought each other, to 60 to almost any
part of the state from any other part.
A certain citizen of Pipestone, Mimi,
boasted that he had travelled through
almost the entire state and visited near
ly every town on capital city passes.
The Chicago & Northwestern proved the
winner.
Outside of the battle Of the railroads,
the main point of interest in the con-
test was the financial welfare of the
state. Mitchell is located at about the
center of population, but Pierre, farther
west, is nearer to the geographical cen.
ter. The bulk of the state lands, which
are unsold, are to the west of Pierre.
From the sale of these lands the state
school and university funds are main
tanned. By keeping the capital and thus
drawing the population westward, Pierre
enhances the value of these state lands,
and thus largely increases the amount
that can be obtained from their sale.
Furthermore, by keeping the capital
at Pierre, the South Dakota people have
aided the general development of the
whole western portion of the state.
Another influence in favor of Pierre
was the Black Hills district, which gave
an overwhelming majority against Nit
cnell. i Ills SOUTHWEST COIUcI vi tuc Stdec
is filled up with a mining population.
These people have egress to the east only
over the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri
Valley railroad through Nebraska to
Omaha, and the Burlington & Missouri,
also through Nebraska. The Black Hills
people are practically cut off, compare
lively speaking, from the most settled
portion of their own state. They have
always believed that the Northwestern
railroad would extend a line from Pierre
westward to the Black Hills district, if
the capitol was maintained at Pierre.
But, if Pierre the present western ter
minus of the Chicago & Northwestern,
should lose the capitol, they feared that
the extension would not be built for
many years, if at all. The Northwestern
company, it is said, has practically de-.
l.