The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-11-06
Falls, academy N. Y; Episcopal ac-
ademy of Connecticut, at Cheshire;
Yeates institute. Lancaster. Pa:

rails, academy N. y; Episcopal ac-
ademy of Connecticut, at Cheshire;
9eates institute, Lancaster, Pa;
Oregon school for the blind at Salem,
and ST. Mary's school, Benicia, Cal.
What he at the time considered the
highest office in the gift of the state
was lnat of trustee of the school dis
trict in his native place.
He vas pastor of ST. Mary's church
at Mitchell for a period of eleven
of Calvary cathedral in Sioux Falls.
and president of the council of add
vice in the missionary district of
South Dakota.
He belonged to several fraternal
societies. In Masonry, he one year
was chaplain of three grand bodies
of the state, lodge, chapter and com
mandery, and for fifteen consecutive
years has been chaplain of the grand
chapter of Royal Arch Masons and
preiate of the grand commandery,
knights Templar. He vas high priest
of his chapter at Mitchell. He was
a member of the Masonic Veteran as
ISOLATION, and has received the thir-
ty-second degree in Scottish Rite
Masonry.
He was also chaplain and an hon
orary life member of the lodge of
lGlks iii Sioux Falls and a member of
the knights of Pythias.
He has witnessed the wonderful
progress made in science and the
arts during the fourscore years OF
his peaceful life. In 1886 he rode on
one of the first passenger trains in
the country, from Ballston Spa to
Utica, N. Y. The track was fiat iron
rail spiked on wooden slepers, which
rested on ties. The locomotive
named John Bull, was built in Eng.
land. The tender was a hogshead
painted green, and the wood was
piled around it. The passenger coach.
es were about the size of the first
street cars. Fifteen miles an houl
was considered a remarkable and
rather a dangerous speed. In 1884
he rode on that same train around
a circle at the exposition in Chicago
The train was placed outside the
transportation building. Inside wa:
what vas called the "Pennsylvanit
Blue Train a two-story, 200-tor
locomotive, coaches heated by ga
and lighted by electricity, and Will
a speed of sixty miles an hour.
In the summer of 1867 he wen
from ST. Paul to ST. Cloud, Mimi.
the terminus of the Northwestern
railway. AS he stepped from tn
train, in the glow of a summer wen
ing, he saw a company of trapper
seated around their campfire, enjoy
. ing their rest and their supper o
pemmican. Starting from their home
800 miles north, in May, as sool
as the grass was high enough t
furnish food for the cattle the.
OlouSlt ~ lulS luCy lldpDC'
during the winter. Their means 0
transportation was a cart, made o
with thongs and pins. Their motiv
power was oXen-one OK to each Car
and beside them was the locomo
tive, gently putting and signing an,
, resting.
The midnight oil' that Rev. MI
Babcock consumed while in colleg
, at Schenectady, N. Y, was a tallo,
!. candle. Now in that Guy is the larg
est electric light plant in the Unite
States.
Mr.. Babcock lived in the age whe
wonder and excitement was express
ed at the sending of the first messag
e over the telegraph Wire from WASH
ington to Annapolis in 1845. H
S has lived to see the achievements {
e some of the greatest things in til
e twentieth century and which fit
years ago were inconceivable.