The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1904-02-11
DAKOTA GHED.
The Event was Highly Successful
in Every Respect. (
ton Break the Traditional Bottle as
the ship Took tho Waves.

NeW LOnQOtls SOull., req. O.-l lie
Dakota, the SECOND steel steamship for
James. ]. Hills Great Northern line
from SeattlesAoSthe Orient, was launched
from the Eastern Shipbuilding company's
yard in this city today, mid din of wills
ties from harbor craft, factories and rail-
way locomotives, without hitch. This
twenty-five thousand tons of steel, shaped
into an immense hull 63o feet long, "a
feet broad and So feet high, slid gently
into the water, as smoothly as a plank
showed from a beach. scarcely ripping
| the surface.
The launching was watched by 1o,-
600 persons from the wharves, the
heights across the river and the para
pets of Forts Gr;swold and Trulnbull.
| The weather was disappointing, but
it did net interfere with the event. The
400 specia! guests occupied the deck OF
large steelsc car float building for the
Consolidated railway, and on the ways
adjoining the Dakota.
The James J. Hill special train of
eleven cars rolled into the shipyards
at II 40 this morning, bearing $50 per-
sons specially hidden to the ceremony:
Mr. Hill was i'll high spirits and the
center of a merry coterie, who piled him
with marine terms and asked questions
upon shipbuilding topics. Miss Clara
Hill accompanied her father, and. with
Miss May Belle Pennington of Ellen
dale, N. d., sponsor for the Dakota,
was followed by train of interested
friends who passed half-hour under the
sides of the ship watching the work
upon the wedges. ..
Then there was a retearsing of the
christening and under the guidance of
President Charles R.;%sHanscorl of the
ship building company, Miss Fleming
ton went through the ceremony from the
staging on level will, the 15foot wa
termark of the vessel
Half all hour before the appointed
time the final inspection Of the launch
ing ways was made by Mr.. Hanscom
and Mr.. Hill and then the guests were
hidden to the launching stand and Miss
Fle,nington took her position on the
little stand at the ships Prov with Miss
Hill, Mr.. Hill and Mr.. Hanscom. The
word was given the wedge drivers and
sawyers and they began their work. The
last two or three blocks stuck obstinate
ly and had to be split to fragments,
therefore liberatiug the immense weight
resting upon them. Finally there was
a rending, cracking sound, as the ship
tore away the remaining bond and start
ed, the crowd as one person shouting
"Ihere she goes y The movement was
slow at first, but the ship. steadily gath
cred momentum and receded about fif-
teen feet second The friction scorched
the ways and raised curtain of smoke.
SHE USED CHAMPAGNE
With slight show Of nervousness Miss
Pennington broke the bottle OF cham
payne against the cutwater, saying: II
christen thee Dakota" the guests cheer
ing her vociferously.
The Dakota began to slackcn to the
resistance of the water when half over
and rose to an even keel and foated
in a mass of blocks and planks, the re-
mains of the sliding ways. Her anchors
held a few hundred feet from the shore.
The launching had been a complete ste
cess.
The guests, numbering $50, gathered
in the loft of the shipyard, which had
been converted into pretty BANQUET
hall, decorated with flags, bunting and
flowers. President Hanscom of the
shipbuilding company presided, and the
orator was John Mckinley of New Lon
don. Mr.. Hill made brief address.
The health of Miss Hill, Miss Fleming
ton and Mr. Hill were drunk standing.
and the toasts to the Dakota and her
sister ship, the Minnesota, were finished