The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-07-02
|LAYING CORNERSTONE OF NEW CAPITOL
TERMINATES TWENTY-FIVE=YEAR CONFLICT
Spectacular Events Are Portrayed in History of Long Battle Over
the Permanent Location of State House.


were Alex Mckenzie of Bismarck, B.
F. Spaulding Of Fargo and DR.. Scott
Of Grand Forks. Under the law he
commission was to organize at Yank-
ton, but for some reason best known
to the commission they did not care
to visit the ancient capital. They met
at Sioux City, agreed upon the organ
ization, and boarded a train which
would take them through Yankton. AS
soon as the latter city limits were
reached they organized while the train
was being pulled rapidly through, Sc
lecting Hughes as chairman, and
Ralph Wheelock, a Mitchell newspa-
per man (now a Twin City ~resident)
as secretary. The train proceeded on
north from Yankton, making its first
stop at Canton, which was the near
est aspirant for the honors under the
provisions of the law
The list of candidates, and the Of
fers they presented to the state were
as follows: Aberdeen, 100000 and
100 acres of land; Bismarck, 100000
and 800 acres of land; Canton, $780,
600 and 100 acres of land; Frankfort,
500, 900 and 100 acres of land; Huron,
500, 900 and 100 acres of land; Mitch
ell, 800, 900 and 100 acres of land;
Pierre, 100000 and 100 acres of land;
Ordway, 500, 900 and $50 acres Of
land; Odessa, S200,00 and 100 acres
of land; Redield, 100000 and 100
acres of land; Steele, 500, 900 and 100
acres of land.
Bismarck Gets II.
These bids were opened and the
commission started out to view the
different locations offered them. Their
trip was one grand round of pleas
ure," each town vieing with the others
in it's attempt TO impress the members
most favorably. After putting in sew
eral weeks of travel, and stopping to
pay each town a visit, the commission
finally rounded up at Grand Forks and
began to ballot. Canton, Pierre, Red
field and Bismarck were the towns
which received votes on the first bal
lots, with the three North Dakota
members standing by Bismarck on
every ballot. Finally Belden, who had
been voting for Pierre, changed to
Bismarck, and Hughes swung owe
with him, giving the North Dakota
town the location.
OF the list of towns which entered
the field at that time, two are but a
memory, being Ordway, in Brown
county, which is now a flag station,
and Odessa, on the shores of Devils
lake, North Dakota, which has been
wiped off the map completely, not
even remaining as a postoffice.
But with the selection of Bismarck
by the commission their troubles did
not end. Pierre wanted the capital;
wanted it bad" and did not let mat
tiers rest with the selection. At the
first session of the territorial legisla-
ture at the new location in 1885, V. Z.
Prentice of Pierre went TO the session
as a representative of Pierre interests.
and attempted to get a removal bill
through to relocate at Pierre. His
move came too soon in the game and
the removal proposition did not make
any great Roadway.
Veto Blocks Pierre Victory.
Before the next session in 1887, a
new governor was appointed for the
territory in Gilbert A. Pierce, a Chi
cago newspaper man. When he came
into the territory to take up his du-
ties some of the interested ones want
Jed to know what his position would
be on the question of capital location,
and in a speech he made at Huron be-
fore going to the capital he stated
that the capital removal question was
n for the people of the territory to
settle for themselves, and that he
would not interfere in whatever they
might want in that direction. In the
session of 1887 w. S. Wells of Pierre
took up the work of a removal bill and
succeeded in getting a bill for remov-
al to Pierre through both houses, only
to have it blocked by a veto on the
part of the governor who had prom
ised to keep hands off.
Dropped Until Statehood Days.
That move ended the efforts to get
the capital away from Bismbarck, as
the division n statehood bills were
well along in congress, and it was con-
sidered a waste of effort to attempt
anything in the session OF 1889, the
last territorial session. The rest of
the record has to do with South Da-
' kota alone, and goes back to 1885.