The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-09-18
DENNIS HANNAF|N
ENERGIES FROM THE
j.. VALLEY Of DEATH
Pioneer Citizen of Bismarck I'm
proving Rapidly After Near
.,. Fatal Illness
GOOD FOR MANY A yEAE.
YET rs HOPE OF FRIENDS
Life of Notable Frontier Charact-
er Reads Like a Romance of
the Old Northwest

"Dinny' Ilannafin, "squattcr gov
ernor' of North Dakota, Indian-iishter
frontiers man, friend Of governors and
OF men who have made governors, is
emerging from the shadow of the
valley of death at the Bismarck hos
pital, once more displaying the re-
markaGlc rccupCrativc powers which
have stood him well in stead in tho
ups and downs of 81 years of advent
urOus life in a country where real
adventures have been all every day
occurrence.
When Governor iannafin gave up
for the first time in his long and ac-
tive life and entered the Bismarck
hospital, his friends feared the end
was near. "Dinny" was in bad shape
For days he lay sCmicOnscious, but
he had not given up fighting, @ and
following serious operation he be
gan beating back, and today the hos
pital reports that he is steadily i'm
proving, very much of man yet, in
spite of his four score and two years
Typical Of the Northwest.
: Dennis lIannafin's career has been
typical of that of the builders of the
northwest. He was born in Ireland,
coming to America with his parents at
the age Of ten. His father died at
sea, and when the family reached
Buffalo, N. Y, "Dinny" was the ran
of the family. And he went manfuIly
to work, backing boots, ceiling news
papers and working for farmers near
by, earning enough money to contri
butte to the support of his mother
and the wee Ilannafins, and at the
same time acquiring a common school
education and a splendid course in
the university of hard knocks.
At Is he came west, finding en-
ployment on the Illinois Central right
ofway in Illinois. July IA, 1862, he
responded to Abe Lincoln's call for
volunteers to save the Integrity of
the nation, cnlisting at Amboy, H.,
with the 18th Illinois infantry. no.
vem5er 2 of that year he won lieu
tenants stripes for distinctive service
in the battle at PCrrysvillc. lie was
wounded at Crab Orchard, and was
in tho thick Of the fight at Stone
River, with the pioneer brigade com
mandod by James St Clair Morton.
supporting the Chicago Board of
Trade battery. He helped build the
Notifications at Murfecsjoro, and
trampcd with Sherman On his march
to the sea
Tho cast retained no charm for
him and when he was mustered out in
Chicago at the close of the war; the
Union Pacific was pushing westward
beyond the uttermOst OutpoSts OF
western civilization. Promise of adj
venture called him west, and he be-
came famous character of the mid
die cities at Cheyenne, Laramie, Prom
OntOry Point and other frontier posts,
where men lived their own lives,
where the past was fast. and the best
man usually won. 1t was a day of
gambling for high stakes, at cards,
in industrial enterprise and in com
merce ,aEd llannafin, strapping young
veteran, daredevil and dauntless, fit
ted into the landscape.
Then the task of building the North
ern Pacific brought to Minnesota
many of the Union Pacific men, and
Hannafin came with them, striking
the grade at y. p. Junction in 1870. !
He was one Of the first white men to
locate on the present site of Moore
head in 1871, and in the spring of
1871, several months before Edwinton,
Predecessor of Bismarck, was born,
re. with few companions, squatted
on the land between the present site
OF the city and the river. BY that
act Bismarck was prevented from be-
coming a river-bank town and was
located on the higher and more fay
orable ground which it now occu.
pies.
Hannafin was at Moorehead when
he heard that a new town was to be
located where tho Northern Pacific
would cross the Missouri The oppor-
tunitics which such site offered at
once appealed to IIannafin. lie knew
party of st. Paul capitalists coop
Grating with the Northern Pacific's
land company was en- route to locate
the TOWNSHIP. He Immediately inter
ested a party of Moorehead friends.
among them John J. Jacknan, still a
resident of Bismarck and oCc,lpying
the land which he entered upon tina.
year; George G.. Sanborn, later of
Fargo; John II. Richards. recently of
the Chicago board Of trade, and Will