The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1906-08-18
works for their superior buildings. Ter
ra-cotta goods. too, have been produced
from the clay in this deposit which have

from the clay in this deposit which have
attracted great deal of attention in and
out of the state. Important displays
were made at the international exposi-
tions of late years and not without bene-
fetal results to the state, and the pros
poets are that the making of terra-cotta
goods will become an important factor in
the industrials of the state and with other
places Dickinson will have her share.
A very active industry is the Dickin-
son Touring mill of 2oo-barrel capacity
and the product is in demand all the
year round. There is also plant here
for the making of concrete blocks which
is kept exceedingly busy.
CIVIC PROGRESS.
The site selected for the town of Dick
inson by the builders of the Northern
the top of a billiard tablet was
stretch of North Dakota prairie, pure
and simple. To make shaded streets
was problem, the solution of which was
made exceedingly difficult owing to the
people have solved the problem with the
aid of more considerate nature. With
the more frequent precipitation the grow
ing of shade trees and ornamental
bushes is not of SO much concern as it
was decade ago. Today there are
many signs of individual desire toward
lines of civic improvement and it is dem
onstrated about the residence streets and
avenues. The people by patient en-
deavor and the exercise of care, coupled
with enterprise displayed in the outlay
for wells and windmills, many portions
of the city have been transformed from
treeless conditions to shaded hooks and
with the waterworks system, in course of
construction by the city authorities, there
will be rapid progress in the way of tree
growing and the making of lawns, the
foundation for which has been laid, and
ere long the homes of Dickinson will
have surroundings which will become the
pride of the city. Contracts for a sewer
age system have been let which will cost
in the neighborhood of $4,000 and it
will cover the main portion of the city.
The city owns substantial city hall
and fire department headquarters. The
latter is classified as a volunteer depart
ment, but as stimulation for the best of
service at all times the officers and men
are pau for attending fires.
THE CITY's BANKS.
For years Dickinson boasted of one of
the strongest and most prosperous fnan-
cial institutions in the state, the First
National bank. Under its excellent and
conservative management it could not
help but be SO, stimulated as it was by
enormous stock and wool industries as
feeders to its successes. There we're
times when its deposit lines reached
figures far in excess tf the average nall
town and neared the combined deposits
of some of the larger centers. The last
statement, the summer one, when busi-
ness is almost at its lowest ebb, shows
this institution with a deposit line of
nearly 100000; surplus fund, $4,000;
and undivided profits, less expenses and
taxes paid, S17I,138. The total of the
report of the condition was sI,o86,222.
Until within the last two or three years
the First National bank was the only bank
in the city, or in the county of Stark.
Two or three years ago the Dakota Ma
tional bank opened its doors with cap
ital of $4,000. The report of conditions
last June show it to have deposit line
OF over S2oo,ooo; surplus, $4,000; and
undivided profits, over $1,000. A third
institution will soon be opened, the Mer-
chants National, for which most digni-
fed type of banking house is in course
of erection. This institution makes a
departure, it having selected a site on
the corner of business street off the
main business thoroughfare. The site
cost $1,000 and the structure $4,000.
The building has frontage OF IS feet
and it is two stories high. Some of the
strongest business firms in the city are
associated in the new enterprise.
AS barometer of development may
be cited the fact that there are now four
state banks in towns outside of Dckin-
son, one each at Gladstone, Taylor, Rich
ardton and Belfeld, representing an
aggregate capital stock of 10000 and
with an aggregate deposit line of $780,
900. All told, the business men of Dick
inson and other towns and farmers and
stockmen have on deposit in the banks
of the county s1,r17,82S.
MERCANTILE ADVANTAGES.
Commercially, Dickinson has made
great strides during the past few years,
just natural, healthy expansion. This
city was always considered good bust
ness point; it gained that reputation in
early days and maintained it under all
conditions and changes. A quarter of a
century ago it was freighting center, as
this station was considered the nearest
railroad point to Deadwood and the
Black Hills region in South Dakota-the
trail was almost an air line. Not only
were original shipments made here, a
great many solid train loads every sea-
son, but the stock yards here proved a
"half-way house" for the stock shippers
from the far west, and they made this a
feeding point. The merchants of Dick
inson jealously nurtured the ranchers'
trade along all lines. The most expen-
sive of Stetson's cowboy hats could be
purchased here as we'll as the best of
saddles and horse goods. A great many
cattle are still shipped from Dickinson.
Then came the wool industry which has
grown to enormous proportions, this
being the market for very extensive
territory. The output now is nearly
1000, 900 pounds annually, which means
that the local banks are the clearing
house for considerable sum of money
which more or less sits through the va
rious business channels in Dickinson.
With the new immigration Dickinson has
become, naturally so, market for the
products of the new farmers and the lat